9-1-1

This is a post from Betsy's blog from when she babysat this week:

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i was tending my nephew otie. we went to ikea. i was buying couches for work. so i gave otie the car keys and let him sit in the front seat to distract him while i loaded all the furniture in the back of mom's suburban.he's not even two years old yet, mind you. so i closed the back door and went to grab otie out of the front seat...

and...it was locked. otie had the keys, and my purse, and my cell phone...

he knows what a button is, and he understands "lock" just not "UNlock." so i would point to the buttons and ask him to unlock the door, and he pushed every single one except unlock.

he thought it was a really fun game. he would kiss me through the window and was just beaming with power. then he found my deodorant. he took off the lid and started rubbing it in his armpits over his clothes, but that got boring fast so he decided to rub it on his tongue instead. at this point i was banging on the window telling him "no" and to stop biting into my deodorant. he would just laugh and then get the keys again and dangle them in my face. he was just glowing because of the time he got to spend in the driver's seat, a rare occasion, because he turns neurotic when it's time for the car seat again.

after about ten minutes, i darted into ikea and called 9-1-1 for the first time that wasn't a prank (whoopsie, i had a naughty childhood). i figured if i couldn't get him out, kidnappers couldn't either. i was still scared to leave him nevertheless.

i was pretty calm and it wasn't that scary...until he turned the car on. he is the smartest little thing. he turned the keys and i could hear the car beeping. that's when i started to have a panic attack. he put all his body weight on the shifter, trying to pull it into gear (i am not kidding.) good thing he wasn't quite strong enough and didn't know the angle you had to pull it to actually shift from park.

i had a grocery cart ready to smash the window in to save my little man, but then the firemen pulled up...thanks for letting me borrow your car dad!

after a huge full-size-lights-flashing-fire truck, 6 firemen, a frantic aunt, and a laughing toddler who loved all the attention, we hijacked the car and got the door unlocked and all left the scene alive, and uninjured.

anyone wanna babysit?

June 16th

Well, I had a Dr. appointment today and the doc officially changed my due date from the 10th the 16th. Boo. I haven't felt any big hurry to have this baby, but it's still no fun to be due a week later than I thought. I've been measuring small (you would never know it by looking at me) all along and today she said I should plan on closer to the 16th with how everything has been going. So here's to one extra week on the countdown!!

Southern Utah

Tyler whisked me away for a surprise romantic getaway to Bryce Canyon. Just kidding. I planned it. But it was so fun. We left Otie (with a fever) with my parents. We missed him and I didn't sleep well because I was a little worried, but he was fine and loves being with my parents so much that it didn't phase him.

We went on a few small hikes. The red rocks are always breathtaking.

The ever-growing belly at 8 months...made for a slow pace and frequent bathroom stops

It was nice to have some time together before the baby comes because I know it will be about a year before I can go anywhere over night again. I have always loved road trips, but a toddler puts a slight damper on the fun on the road. It was so fun to have hours in the car with Ty to just talk, listen to music, eat candy and try to ignore the fact that there was a huge baby up in my ribs.

Bike ride

Tyler usually goes for a bike ride in the morning before work and usually gets home about the time Otis is waking up. "Daddy bike ride!" is often the first thing Otie says to me when I go into his room. Or "Daddy! See him!"

Needless to say, he's really into bikes and helmets and would ride his bike or in the bike trailer all day if I would let him (unfortunately for him, I can't last long on a bike these days!)

Today we met Ty and Winston at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon so Otis could go on a bike ride with them. He was very proud of his own bike and helmet and wouldn't stop to pose for a picture.

It was so nice to be up in the mountains. It is so beautiful up there, I can't believe how much snow there still is.

Aquarium with Grandma Peggy

Otis love the aquarium and loves his Grandma "Peddy" (as he calls her) so this was such a fun day for him.

He is really into sharks right now, so he loved the shark tank

It is always a task to prevent him from climbing into the sting ray pool

Cinco de Mayo!

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in style with the Morgans this year!

Joe cutting up his famous flan

Otie was the most aggressive of the group with the pinata

but I think he cared more about wearing the pinata as a hat than he did about the candy

Happy Mothers Day!

My mom gave me this for Mother's Day. It's a framed picture of my Great Grandma Zelma, Grandma Miriam, Mom and me when we were all about the same age. It is so precious to me.

I'm so grateful for my mom. I wish I could somehow just absorb all her patience, selflessness and mothering skills.

Having been a mother for a whole 20 months now, I think I can consider myself an expert (haha). But one thing I have learned is love. Sure, multiple people a day tell me that Otis is a wild child and wonder how I can keep up with him (or not keep up as my ward learned when he out ran me and made it up to the bishopric on the stand last week during a testimony).

Most days I feel like I'm just chasing him around trying to keep him alive. He can now pull most electrical covers out of outlets, climb up on our kitchen table and reach our chandelier and jump off anything that could potentially break his leg. But before he does he always looks at me and says, "em-me-mee", like he's saying "Hey, Emily- look what I'm about to do."

Some days I look at the clock and see that it's only 3:00pm and wonder what in the world am I going to do to entertain this little man for the next 3-4 hours. Then I remember that there is so much that I should be doing. Sometimes I feel such a tremendous amount of pressure when I realize that it is my responsibility- as his mother- more than anyone else to teach him manners, honesty, right and wrong....everything. Who ever thought that I was capable of this? But I find that in the midst all these feelings and of his running away, tantrums, pushing and purposeful defiance that I'm loving him more and more every day.

When I was pregnant with Otis it never really felt real that I was actually going to have a baby. That this little person was going to be left completely in my care. If only I could see into the future and see Otis racing down a slide at a park then running over to me without saying anything just to give me a hug then running right back to the playground. Or cuddling up next to me for a kiss, or asking to get "up" on my lap to read the same book 50 times in a row or resting his head softly on my belly and saying "baby" then with no warning jumping on top of my belly and saying "wheeee!".

Otis has awakened a piece of my heart that I never knew I had. Being a mom rocks.

Quick trip

We took a quick trip with some family and friends to California last month. We had some seriously long beach days and the kids were total troopers.

Otie and Eliza lounging at San Onofre

With a mouth full of sand- still one of his favorite foods

The boys going out to surf

Otie found a nice (big!) pillow to relax on when he was way past nap time

*thanks to Sar and Nan for taking a few pictures, I never even got my camera out of my bag!

He had a birthday...

Ty's birthday was yesterday. I love him. I love him for so many reasons. He makes me happy, he makes my life easy.

And he can rock a mullet

Otie is turning into a little daddy's man these days. He asks for Daddy when he wakes up morning and nap and waits on a stool looking out the front window for Tyler to get home from work (I've learned not to tell him Daddy's coming home until he's within 15 min). When he finally pulls up Otie shrieks with delight and runs to the door.

When he's not sporting that beautiful mullet, he can wear a shag nicely as well

Ty is all about making everything fun and stress free

Since the beginning, Tyler has helped so much with Otis. He changed diapers in the middle of the night, always took turns with the late night newborn shift and since I've been pregnant he gets Otis up and probably makes breakfast 4 times a week. Otis now of course prefers him to give him and bath and put him to bed at night. He maybe shouldn't have set the bar so high for himself. He has a tough act to follow with baby girl on the way.