A little bit about Max

Max is going to be 1 on Tuesday! And he has been so busy lately! He is totally weaned and is addicted to his sippy cup! He enjoyed having my parents here. This is my Mom and Max on the "green bus" (Turner was obsessed with the green bus for a week) when we went to the Draper temple open house.

Aren't they cute? He is cruising all over the place and seems that he will be taking his first steps anytime now. Today he stood up and was cruising along the wall. He got to the plug and I told him "no no" of course Turner piped up with his "no no" also. Max looked at up and stuck out his lip and started bawling and melted to the floor. It was just about the most pathetic thing you have ever seen. I think we may have a drama king on our hands!

We went to the Children's Museum Tuesday and Max had a ball! Max has a crazy hair that sticks up no matter how long it is. We get comments on it wherever we go! You want to know the secret? Cherry Pie filling!

OK he just loves to make a mess of his food! Actually it doesn't matter what I put in his hair (to try to get it to lay down) it sticks straight up! We love him and I can't wait to celebrate his birthday.

Turner on the other hand is taking after his Grandpa and Uncle and learning to be a dentist!

For Heather

This was the last part of my post yesterday but it wasn't showing up when I opened my blog- I don't know if it is my computer or what so I thought that I would re-post it.

Although Max may look like the spitting image of his father, it turns out he may have a little bit of my personality in him! (Heather- how many pictures have you taken of me with my mouth open like this? I know the first one was in the MTC at the call center! It looks as if Max is getting an early start!)

Oh watch out world because here he comes!

Milestones

Well, last week was a big one at our house- Max cut his first 4 teeth in 5 days! I had been checking his gums everyday for months! Turner had cut his first tooth at 7 months and I know "every child is different" but not my kids! Actually Max has hit milestones a few weeks before Turner did so I guess I assumed that cutting teeth would follow suit. I was wrong but weeks before his first birthday he has made up for lost time and he just went crazy cutting teeth. Here are the first two peeking through. He actually was in pretty good spirits that week and for the most part we have been just hanging out having fun. Some days I just wonder what in the world it is called when you have a group of boys? A gaggle of boys? Because last Friday I had 5 but I usually have 3 wed.-fri. and sometimes I just want to hold something with a ridiculously large bow on its head. It looks like right now girls are going to out number our boys in my preschool this fall though so that should be a nice change.

Turner is becoming more independent and is starting to leave the two's behind. I am not saying that the tantrums have stopped but the independence is in full swing. He insisted the other day of putting his shirt on :) I love how he got both sleeves on one arm!

The imagination is in full swing too. Lately he has been pretending he is Lightening McQueen and doing laps around the house. He makes the most amazing car noises and often stops and asks for a pit stop. He pretends to blow out a tire sometimes too- and I just can't help but to smile and just soak in how much fun he is! The next major thing is that he is obsessed with the Dr. and pretending he is a Dr. in fact he asks to go to the doctor all the time. He found the cigarette lighter adaptor for the traveling DVD player and used it as a stethoscope to give his little brother a check up. Max just wanted to eat it. Turner kept at it for a long time. I got a looked over to! Good news is that I am in good health.

What do you do in the winter time when all the world is depressed?

I believe that when God created the world he made February the shortest month of the year as an act of mercy. If I was big into winter sports I am sure that I would feel differently but I am not and I hate being stuck inside- worse having my kids stuck inside because it takes an army and 45 minutes to get them dressed appropriately to go outside in the weather. Yet I do love that half way through the most horrid month of the year there is a wonderful holiday to celebrate how much we love each other. I do love valentines day. I especially love it now that I have kids and get to celebrate it with them. We don't do anything huge but it is a fun food holiday! I made the cheesecake for Josh (although I think I ate more of it than he did!)

Monday was presidents day and we wanted to get out of dodge. This is when I realized that having a holiday in the middle of winter wasn't too fun unless you had money to go spend. We didn't so we decided to take the kids to the free aquarium aka Cabellas and then to Thanksgiving point to see the barn animals. We had a lot of fun!

My cute boys!

Are they in jail or just in a cage like the monkey's they are?!

We had a fun day and Turner has been asking everyday to go see the animals. I love spending time with my family no matter what time of the year it is!

It's time once again for the KYCA {weekly} report

This week I think I am just going to go off on a tangent so feel free to just look at the darling pictures of my darling boys and count it good. When I was in High school I use to get a ride to school with my Dad on most days. We were very lucky to live in a rural town in Arizona and have the privilege of having release time seminary. Yet in order to participate in release time seminary we had to go to school an hour early and take a class they called "early bird." That was the official name of the class period. It wasn't bad, it was usually full of the LDS kids and the over achievers. Then there were some who fit into both catagories (Aaron Menzer you know who you are) We only had a hand full of classes to choose from because what self respecting teacher wants to wake up and be teaching at 7am? Well, the bus route didn't run that early so I had to be taken to school. On the way into school my dad listened to talk radio KYCA specifically and they always said "it's time once again for the KYCA morning report." Well, there wasn't any traffic to report in my small town and very little news but somehow they found things to report and I can remember some of the news stories and local commercials. Prescott was this little oasis snuggled in the mountains of Arizona. It was a great place to grow up and someday I would like to find a similar town to raise my little family in. For right now though we are in Utah and I am learning all the time ways to love it here. I have grown a lot since the last time that I moved here. I don't know if that has been time, my environment or becoming a mom.

I have learned a lot becoming a mom yet I know I still have more to learn. I am not talking even about the big things, I really want to know some of the basic things. Like how do I really child proof my house now that I have 2 kids. It is so much harder because with Turner all I had to do was keep everything off the floor that he could choke on, lock the cupboards and cover the outlets. Now he can reach and climb and is such an explorer. I am not so worried about him but I am surprised that Max is still alive. The first incident happened not too long ago when I had got the febreeze out and left it on the night stand. We were leaving to go to an appointment soon and I ran down stairs to get something. I of course made sure that the baby gate on the stairs was latched and Max was were Turner couldn't get him. All of the sudden I heard Max crying and I rushed upstairs to find that Turner had soaked Max with the febreeze. He couldn't reach him with is hands but he sure could reach him with the spray nozzle of the febreeze bottle. I had to tip Max over the sink and run water over his eyes for 15 minutes. Tell me if you think that went too well with a baby who is upset? Luckily the worst that happened was that Max's skin got really dry but he was OK. The next MAJOR scare (mind you there are 10 minor scares a day) came a few weeks later when I decided to press my luck and hop in the shower. Max was secured in the high chair and I was only going to jump in and out. Well when I jumped out Max was fussing and ready for his nap so I went to get him and he had some fruity stickiness all over him. I was curious as to what in the world it could be since I didn't feed him anything like that. I then went into my bedroom and found a puddle of the same stickiness on the floor. I instantly recognized the scent as fruit flavored infant Motrin. Max had woken up in the middle of the night and we thought maybe he was teething (no he wasn't- 10 months and still no teeth.) and I guess in my grogginess I didn't put the lid back on so that the childproof lock caught. Again I found myself watching them closely, smelling their breath and making sure they didn't have any weird behavior changes. This morning was the worst of all though. I really want to know, how is a mom suppose to go to the bathroom? I seriously just ran to the bathroom really quick so I thought it would be safe to leave Max on the floor- wrong think again! We had been taking pictures of the boys this morning and I made sure my camera was out of reach but Turner got into my bag and found a bottle of hand sanitizer. He squirt most of it on the floor but he also decided his brother needed sanitizing. It was all over his head and chest. I smelled his breath and it smelled as if he had eaten some. I know you all got that email about those kids that died from licking their hands after their teacher put a glob of sanitizer on them. I panicked but somehow had enough sense to tell myself that it probably was nothing. I watched Max closely and sent Turner to his room. He seemed normal after a while and I decided that it was going to be OK. I know I probably should have called poison control but I didn't. These are only the major chemical issues, not to mention all of the body slams and "hugs around the neck." I honestly am so surprised that Max is still alive. Not to mention his own doing. Yesterday was first blood (besides induced by medical professionals.) He has now started to pull himself up on things. We have a polished stone fireplace and he was standing at it yesterday and feeling all proud of himself when he lost his balance and smacked his toothless mouth on his way down. It tore the piece of skin between the lip and the upper gums and cut open his upper lip. Oh it was so sad for me and for him. Yet it was nothing an otter pop couldn't fix.

little of this and a little of that

Josh goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday nights so after the kids go to bed and I am left alone I have to think up things to do so lately Thursday night has been my "update my blog night." That tends to make it a little bit of potpourri.
Last Sat. we had a surprise party for my mother in law's 50th birthday. We meaning me and my lackeys- Josh has one brother and that is it; so I am the only girl in the family besides my MIL so I planned it and the boys were very helpful and did what I told them. The theme was 50's- because she turned 50... and she was born in the 50's... you know. Here is a picture of the cake that I decorated-

It is suppose to be stacks of records. It ended up looking a bit like Mickey Mouse because of the way I had to put the cakes on the board. Despite that, I was pretty proud of myself. Here is a picture of her walking in- not surprised.
Turner ended up ruining that before she walked in. We held it at the church and we had him meet her at the door and hand her a blindfold and say come follow me. Well, he was very good and followed directions very well but then she asked, "Where are we going?" And again he was very obedient and said "GG's birthday party. There is cake and balloons and people." He continued describing the party in detail until they arrived at the appointed door. Regardless of the surprise buster, I think she still was very pleased with the event.

This morning I left my little babysitting charge sitting in his bumbo chair while I got my kids dressed for the morning. I listened to him chat away happily from the other room when all of the sudden it got a little too quiet. I walked in to check on him and found him sleeping soundly in his chair. He didn't hardly wake up when we peeled him out of his seat and put him to bed. (Yes peeled him out of the chair- he is 6 months and weighs over 20 lbs. He is a snug fit in the chair.)
I realize that most of my pictures of Max are in his high chair but that is when he will hold still- that kids is such a mover. As you can see he is enjoying "real people food" and refuses to eat anything out of a jar anymore. He turned 10 months last Sat.! He is into everything and hates to be put on the floor- he wants to stand. He has such a fun sense of humor already and laughs when he knows he is in trouble. He is such a cuddler! and when you pick him up he always just snuggles into you. He subscribes to the philosophy early to bed and early to rise and is a very light sleeper. We have had the boys sharing a room thus far but it looks like we may have to separate them as they don't take naps very well together. I really just don't want to have to pick up and heat another room- yeah I am lazy and cheap like that.

I sure missed it

Max has been sick this past week. It has been a horrible, clingy, cranky, terrible week, mostly because I missed this- His adorable smile! Max is normally a very happy child so when he doesn't feel good it just zaps the sunshine out of our home. But today he has been feeling better, getting his appetite back and most of all smiling again. Yeah! Turner's imagination is growing everyday. Here he is pretending he is a monster A "skawy monter." Tonight we were reading "scriptures" (really just a page out of "my first book of mormon stories") and we were reading about the anti-nephi-lehi's burying their swords and it was really cute because the following conversation followed-
Turner: They were hitting
Mom: Yes they are burying their swords so they don't hit anymore
Turner: I don't hit people
Mom: It makes Heavenly Father sad when we hit people
Turner: I don't hit Jesus
Mom: That is a good choice
-Ok it was funny when he said it...
Anyway on another note, this is a question to all you parents of more than one child out there- how do you get a picture of them both looking at the camera and looking cute? I know I should know this but I don't. On the other hand Turner is turning into quite the photographer- this is a picture he took of us- notice the creative use of the rule of thirds?

By request!

Things around here are getting back to some sort of normal... What ever that means but I did have a request from Nicole- she said that she missed out on too much of Christmas stuff because I didn't blog about it so here is a picture of the cupcakes that I made for all of the neighbors.. I told you they were cute!

This is a picture of the snow monster Josh made. He then later dyed it blue with a red patch on its stomach. But we didn't get a picture of that. I got a lot of compliments on my artistic abilities. When I informed them that it was Josh they were shocked- yes my husband is a very creative artist. I would have made 3 large balls in 3 different sizes, a carrot nose, a scarf, hat and charcoal eyes... I am not that creative.
Josh wants it to snow so that he can one up it and do something even cooler but I myself and grateful for the sun we have been getting. I don't do so well in the winter- maybe it is because I am an AZ girl, maybe I have S.A.D. or maybe I get cabin fever being stuck inside- anyway I am thankful for the sun!

If at first you don't succeed...

try try again right? When I was pregnant with Turner I thought that staying home would be a challenge on my sanity so I decided that I was going to do a preschool. I spent a lot of time getting licenced and certified and getting other things ready and put a flier in the local paper and expected to be flooded with phone calls. Nothing... I was pretty new in the neighborhood and didn't know very many people so it was really hard for me to get the word out. Well it ended up that I had a hard time finding people and so the preschool never got off the ground. I chalked it up to bad timing but the idea never left me. I taught preschool while I was going to college and it happened to be my most favorite job I ever had. Even when we bought the house I thought to myself, the basement would lend itself to a great preschool. So now that I have a preschooler myself I am going to attempt it again. So that is what we have been up to lately, trying to organize everything to get the word out, hopefully I will have a better response this time- at least I already have one kid signed up! (Turner)

Back to blogging

Where do I begin? Life has been so crazy! We had a wonderful holiday season filled with family and festivities. Yet because we had so much going on blogging fell by the wayside and I regret it. Blogging isn't just a way for me to keep in touch with friends and family it is a family history of sorts. Some of the best moments of the year didn't get recorded. I started blogging a little over a year ago and I am so glad that I have a record of this last year. Josh was commenting the other day on how many bottles of sparkling cider we have on the shelf and I said, well I guess we need something to celebrate and Josh sarcastically stated "yeah this year has been really uneventful!" I mentioned last year that my theme for the year was "Life is great in 2008." It really was such an awesome year. The birth of our second child and our sealing tie for the highlights. I look forward to this next year and wonder what it will bring. If having a positive outlook on the year had any influence on how it ended up then I have to say: "Life is divine in 2009!"