It's fun to have fun friends

I love having friends that like to do fun things. We had a "Pomegranate Promenade" in November where everyone brought their favorite pomegranate dish and we voted on our favorite. I didn't have a pomegranate so I just brought pumpkin bread and sprinkled it with someone else's pomegranate and called it "Pompkin" bread. I didn't win.

Then for December Danielle hosted a fun Christmas Masquerade. And I did win best mask of the night. It was just an old mardi gras mask from my mom's costume closet, and I think I only won because I wore it almost the whole night.

It's nice to look forward to getting out of the house some nights- no kids allowed. Yesterday I thought I might die if I heard one more "NO WAY!" or "MINE!" Sometimes it feels like I'm in a constant battle of wills all day. And the best part about it is that as soon as Ty walks in the door Otis says, "Come on in, welcome home Dad, how was work?" Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

6 months and potty training update

This was Milly at 5 months, I think I forgot to post this one

At 6 months Milly is as lovely as ever. She seems to be very laid back and mellow- slightly different than her older brother. She chews on anything she can get her hands on and is absolutely repulsed by any type of food or formula. She refuses to take a bottle and spits out food with disgust. Other than that, she goes with the flow and seems to be happy just to go along for the ride in whatever we do. She has good stretches of 10-12 hours of sleep a night but will occasionally wake up to eat a few times some nights, which is always fun.

15lbs- 30th%

26"- 60th%

44cm- 90th%

I think it's safe to say that it's a go with potty training. We're in big boy underwear all day everyday now (or just nothing as this picture shows Otis' favorite lounge wear).

Potty training was my worst nightmare- like the time groceries were loaded and both kids just in car seats when Otis told me he needed to go potty. Of course you do, my sweet child. So I get him out and am helping him pee by the side of the car when he looks up and me with a proud smile and says, "My poo poo is coming out". Bullets. Sweating bullets. But we got through it. Anyone who frowns upon a toddler peeing in a parking lot or anywhere in public has never attempted potty training. I'm still hoping to witness someone else tucked behind the door of their car with their toddler trying desperately not to let the pee run down onto their shoes so I can look at her with a smile and say "I salute you, I've been there and I survived".

"I'm a Winner" half-marathon

When my sisters and I were in middle school my Dad decided that it was important that we have high self esteem. So every morning he would wake us up at 5:30am and we would meet outside of our rooms and he would make us yell together, "I'M A WINNER! I'M A WINNER! I'M A WINNER" I'm serious. We really did this. Of course we hated it at the time. We whined and complained, but eventually grew to love it. And I have great memories of it and really feel like it taught me a life-long lesson.

So a few years ago we started the tradition of running a 1/2 marathon on Thanksgiving morning in honor of the old I'm a winner days. My mom even made us all "I'm a WINNER" sweatshirts one year. Ty even got a sweatshirt because he ran the whole thing with no training that year.
So with Betsy on her mission, Heidi in Virginia and everyone else with knee excuses, it was just me and Dad this year. My 54 year old Dad basically dragged me through the run, but was beautiful and fun and I survived.

Thankful

I have so much to be grateful for this holiday season. Especially these two:

We went to California with my family for Thanksgiving. I missed my sisters so much but we still had a great time. Don't be fooled by these few pictures, it wasn't all fun and games- every single one of us (except Miss Milly, thanks to my liquid gold breast milk) had the stomach flu and were throwing up one day during the trip.

Thank you Otis for FINALLY playing at the beach without eating handfuls of sand

It is so fun to see Otie's imagination at work. He loves to pretend. He's always telling me, "not yet" or "wait a sec, I'm doing something" or "actually, I'm going to build a water fountain". I don't know where he comes up with some of his ideas.

This morning this was our conversation at breakfast:

Otie: Does Milly have teeth?

Ty: No she's too little, she's just a baby

Otie: Does she need to go to the store to buy some teeth?

Me: Umm... no I think she'll grow some.

Now he's always asking me what grows and what we buy.

Go Jazz go!

We had a fun family night at the Jazz Game

Otie loved screaming, "go Jazz go!"

Milly loved it too.

Oh, you like her headband? I made it. Call me Martha Stewart.

Happy Birthday to my big sister!

Still love her and look up to her like I did when when we were little!

Meet my best friend

This is Lily.

Milly was excited to have her bff over to her house for the first time.

Watch this mom!

Otis is always asking us to "watch this cool trick". Whether is jumping off furniture, drawing something or riding his scooter- he is always so proud of himself. I love what a free spirit he is.

Happy Halloween!!

From Spiderman and Superwoman

First SNOW of the year!

We hiked up at Brighton earlier this month to see the first snow of the year.

Otie LOVES being thrown in the air- and for some reason calls it the "ok game". Unfortunately for him, my upper body strength is a bit lacking so he's stopped asking me.

simple pleasures...

Ty warming Otie's hands. It was freezing

Fall fun

I love fall. I love it for a lot of reasons but mostly because it means that snow will be falling soon. For some reason, I especially like treats in this season. Every night after both kids are asleep, I always like to sit and enjoy some yummy treat- usually warm cookies and milk or the last 3 nights have been carmel popcorn. Why I am blogging about this, I don't know. Here's what we've been up to lately...

It was no easy task getting him off the tractors

searching for the perfect toy...

playing with "Pakinley"

fun witches at Gardner Village

4 months

We just went to the Dr. for our 4 month and 2 year check-ups. It is interesting for me to read back in the blog about how Otie was at 4 months. He was rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy and was almost 16 lbs. Milly is showing no signs of rolling whatsoever. I'm hoping this means that Milly will be a little slower than Otie was crawling and walking.

13lbs 13 oz and 25"

Milly is an absolute joy. She is mellow and smiley. Of course she has her fussy moments, but she has been a champ of a sleeper. Since she was a month old she's been doing at least 6 hr stretches at night and last night she slept 10 hours!! I wish I could take credit for this, but I did the exact same thing with Otis and he didn't sleep this well until he was 7 or 8 months. She has recently found her voice and makes noise all day. Otis always asks me what she's saying.

Otie is 27lbs and 36"

Harvest

It has been so fun having a garden this year. Otis loves to get a bowl, put on his boots and go pick "ponatoes".

We enjoyed lots of fresh salsa

Thanks to my sister at Tasty Sensations we roasted these and made delicious pasta sauce

Waterskiing with Morgans

We went waterskiing with Joe, Wendy and Nanny a few weeks ago. Otis loves them all and was in heaven on the boat. As he was going to bed that night I could hear him singing (to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus") "The Joe-Joe's on the bus say, I Love Wendy". I don't know how he comes up with these things.

Otis sporting my dad's old fluorescent "Holladay Orthodontic" hat

I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven waterskiing, I hadn't been since I had Milly and the water was PERFECT

my #1 fan watching out for me

Ready for winter

She wanted me to add a pom pom. How could I say no to this face?

I decided to make Milly a beanie last night to get her pumped for the upcoming ski season. She can't wait.

Impromptu songs

Otis is constantly singing- and he has a better voice than me or Tyler. I love the quick switch to another song then my favorite is when he blows on her face.

Extreme Parenting

Some might find this offensive. I almost died laughing...

Potty training?

As I was sitting on my bathroom floor this morning nursing Milly (I know, yuck) while cheering Otis on for going on the potty and trying to prevent him from reaching in to touch his poop, I thought to myself,

“I need a raise.”

Otis has decided in the last few weeks that he doesn’t want to wear diapers anymore. He loves going on the toilet. We have spent more time in the bathroom in the last week than I think I have in my whole life. I had no desire to potty train right now, but decided to just let him go on the potty whenever he asks…which has turned out to be alot more often than I bargained for.

He makes it to the toilet on time alot of the time. But also at least 10 times a day he will tell me frantically that he has to go, only to go in there and have him squeeze out a tiny drop and say he needs a potty treat. Or if we are out or at a store he'll tell me he needs to go then we go find a bathroom and he'll just want to play with the hand dryer, toilet paper, flusher (yuck again, I hate public bathrooms). I am so exasperated by it all. So maybe this is just a phase and we’ll go back to diapers? Or maybe he will get it one of these days?

Until then, you can find me on the bathroom floor cheering, wiping, cleaning... and nursing.

LOTOJA 2010

Ty did the 206 mile bike ride from Logan to Jackson a few weeks ago. I am so proud of him for doing it. He trained so hard all summer. He sacrificed alot of sleep for training, I don't know how he did it every morning. It felt like the middle of the night to me sometimes when I would hear him leaving to go for a ride.

At the FINISH!! He finished in 12 hours and 6 minutes- when I saw him at the finish I secretly thought to myself, "whoa, I haven't noticed that pot belly before", but it was just so distended from all the food and water he drank during the ride. funny. or not really,

Waiting at the finish line. My dad drove up with me the and kids. I think he should win Grandpa of the Year award for his performance on the drive up. I was really sick and had lost my voice so he entertained Otis for the whole drive. I would guess that he sang "Happy Birthday" to Otis at least 50 times.

He started riding in the dark and freezing cold

Tyler's mom was his support car and did such an amazing job! He couldn't have done it without her. She was so prepared with anything and everything that he needed during the long ride. He was so grateful for her help.

I'm two!

Sept 11, 2010

Dear Otis,

Today you are 2 years old. When I went to get you out of bed this morning, you were already singing, “Happy Birthday to Otie-man”. I love spending every waking moment with you. And with you, there is never a dull moment. You are all boy. You love to play in the mud, sand and water- you love to be dirty. Every day we go through at least 2 outfits because one is either covered in mud or soaking wet. And you LOVE to be naked. Just the other day I looked outside and you had taken all your clothes and diaper off and were riding your scooter around naked with only your helmet.

You have such a strong will and insist on doing everything by yourself. You love keys and will beg anyone with keys to let you drive. You also love waterbottles and will steal any that you can get your hands on. We went to the beach a few months ago and you still ask us every day if we had fun surfing.

Your memory for people’s names is better than mine. You know everyone’s name at church and now you like to ask strangers what their name is and if they are chewing gum. Your memory for songs is also impressive. The other day I was singing the “ABC song” and got distracted and stopped and then you just started where I left off and finished the song. I didn’t know you knew any of it! And you have been singing “Happy Birthday” since July. You love music and LOVE to dance.

You don’t have many signs of baby left in you. You like to play with the big kids. But sometimes you still ask me to hold you and “Rock-a-bye” you. And at night you always have to make sure your “toesie-wosies” are covered. You are the best big brother. You are getting better at being soft with your sister and whenever she cries you run over to her and ry to put her binki in and say, “It’s ok Mill, don’t be sad”. You are so social and LOVE to talk. You ask me a million times a day, “what are you doing? Where are we going? Where is grandma? When is daddy coming home?”

I always say that I love you so much I think it might make my heart explode. But the last few days I also say that I can’t go one more second without getting a lock on the fridge because you like to open it and take things out and dump them out. I’ve tried 2 locks and you have broken through them both. You are definitely a naughty little 2 year old and most days by the time you go to bed, I feel like I’m about ready to pass out- but you are also the sweetest. Whenever I cough or hurt myself you ask if I’m ok and insist on kissing my “owies”.

I love you and can’t wait to see what this next year brings with you.

Happy Birthday.

Love,

Mom