Birthdays and San Diego

Ben. And I quote. "I can't go to sleep the eagles are going to get my hair." This is the reason he is sitting by my side right now instead of asleep in bed. Those Eagles ruin everything. Where he came up with the bit about Eagles and his hair we will never know... Lately Ben wants to know everyone's name. He'll point to people and say "What's their name?" And I'll say something like I don't know - what do you think - he will say his name is "Gordon" - come to find out everybody's name is Gordon. And every toy's name is Gordon too.  Next on the list of top ten cute things Ben does everyday is he takes pictures with our phone all the time. I think he likes the sound of the click more than the actual picture taking. Will and I's phones are chuck full of pictures of Ben's pant leg.  Finally, we celebrated Ben's birthday this last week. It took him the first half of day to tell people he was 3 and not 2 years old. We had a good day. I actually realized after all of the celebrations Ben is much more like his dad than his mom- if I get a present or go to a fun trampoline park I giggle and squeal and say how excited I am. Ben just keeps that same mellow look and smiles with his eyes while he plays with his new toys.

Now onto James. He had a birthday this month too - unlike Ben who barely touched his cake on his first birthday - James devoured his tasty delight. We spent his birthday in San Diego - so his Aunt Sarah made him a cupcake and got him some balloons. Speaking of San Diego- Traveling with little people makes for a lot longer road trips. James wanted to be held about every two hours, so we found ourselves in some of the crazyiest towns- one where there was only one gas station and a lot of abandoned buildings. Our 8 hour trip took about 15 hours instead. I have to admit spending that time in the car with my kids was great (and terrible when they were mad), but mostly they are sooo cute! James just smiled and laughed everytime we talked to him. And Ben kept asking for snakes aka red vines.  I don't remember if I mentioned it last time so sorry for the repeat if I did but James is scooting. I can't believe I've genetically engineered two scooters- what happend to Will's and my crawling gene??? James' third word is nanna aka banana. His first word was da da and second was ma ma. My little James is my everything I love him so much he is a breath of fresh air- always smiley and only grumpy when he is hungry or just barely waking up. Speaking of hunger - the kid eats like a horse. Most days he out eats his three year old brother and sometimes he out eats me!  I don't know how long this will last but I"m afraid he'll chunck up if it lasts too long. For now he is still very thin and tall. 

As for baby bean - aka child number three. We'll find out if it is a boy or a girl in a couple of weeks. People keep asking me what I want- and really what they are saying is _ I bet you want a girl. But come to find out I just want a baby. The Lord will bless us with who needs us and who we need :) I would love a girl but I would also love another boy- so stay tuned for the annoucnment. As for second trimester woes I am more tired with this little person than my other two pregnancies... I sleep allllll the time! Ben and James are getting really good at playing on or around me while I snooze.

Will and I are still trying to figure out our lives. Sometimes I feel so tired of trying to "figure" out Will's life and career that I just take a break from it all. I don't know the answers - and I pray that they will come. That is as good as I can give you right now ;) I'm still working and Will has been a little more busy with writing than he has been- so we are hoping that he can keep even busier as the time goes on. I love being pregnant- I love having a baby inside. Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for our two precious children and can't wait to meet our third!

Love,

Summer

James's 1st Birthday 

While the cat is away the mice will play-- or at least my little mouse plays :)

Check it out the girls are already vying for Ben's attention

 Ben loves to take pictures and it just happend to be that he caught on camera his latest hobby of coloring all over himself. 

 Ben's 3rd birthday

 San Diego September 7-13, 2013

 China Town

 A Beach near Los Angeles

Story Time at the Farmington Library with cousins

 Ben's first day of preschool

 Ben at Kangaroo zoo on his birthday

Second half of the Summer

So much to catch you up on. I feel like years have passed since the last time I posted but really its only been a couple of months-  The biggest change; since then is a newer member of our family. Somewhere first of July I was plerplexed to find out I was gaining weight. My pants fit tighter and I started to worry. I began a weekly regimine at the gym about this time but it didn't seem to help. Then one day I felt nauseous.... next you know I test positive for pregnancy. We were very surprised and its taken me at least the last month to settle down to the idea that James isn't going to be the baby anymore. We're excited for a new surprise addition, but I have a feeling that three kids three and under is going to hit me like a frieght train. Wish me luck!!!

As for the boys they are ADORABLE!  Lets start with Ben. He had me running around the house this morning side stepping his tantrums before church. By the time we were on our way to church I was burnt out- until I hear this sweet little voice int he back seat singing "Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet....he knows the way.." He can make me so crazy and then be so cute all in the same 5 min period. I spend half my life chasing him into timeout and the other half laughing at all the cute things he has to say. Speaking of chasing. I've failed my second brave attempt at potty training. This time we had him going pee pretty good everytime in the toliet but the poop just was not his cup of tea. He missed everytime. After a month of that and me being in my first month of pregancy we threw in the towel again. Third times a charm right :)  One more interesting tidbit about our little Ben. He has a fear of the wind. Even if it is just barely going. If he can see it in the tree tops he wants to head for home. It's silly. We went camping this weekend and it was really windy so he spent the mornign in the car waiting for us to pack up and leave. Silly kid!

Lets move on to boy number #2. James is still the most social kid on the block. Today at church he crawled up to the front of sunday school and was trying to pull the microphone from the teacher. He is such the distraction at church the ladies love him! He also love water. Unlike his older brother James doesn't mind getting his face wet. Lately he screams everytime we take him out of the bathtub. He is a water baby! The best news for James is he is mobile!  And as goofy as it seems he is a scooter just like Ben.  I didn't think that was genetically possible. I'll have to call the Genius Book of world records and see if I have some contenders. Another unsual trait our skinny little boy has is eating. He does it a lot! And it seems like sometimes he can put down more than I can. It must all be going to his height because he was in the 90th percentile for height last time we took him in. He says "ma ma" and "da da" and the other day I swear I heard him say "Ben."

Finally, I have a new paragraph to insert here for baby #3! First of all if you are reading this, we love you if you are a girl or boy! And if you are a boy you better not make for too many WWF wrestling matches I don't know that I have the energy to break them up all the time ;)  As far as how you are treating me in utero- I'll give you a 6.5 - Which may be a sligthly higher score than your two brothers. I'm not nauseous and I'm not moody- these were the order of things for Ben and James. But I am EXHAUSTED with you! At one point I'd lay down for three hours then be up for an hour and then be back down for another hour. My poor house has been pretty messy lately. I can't wait to meet you sometime around March 11th. Our family will be more complete!

As for Will and I - our summer has been packed. Two cabin trips, lots of family. Swimming, birthday parties, a camping trip and lots of "how to be a better parent lessons." We are going on a vacation to San Diego in two weeks - so we are excited about that. Will is still working on getting more writing work under his belt and I'm trying to keep up with my writing work. Well I think I've covered enough. I've got some summer fun pics to post so bear with me :)

This last one is classic Ben. Linning up shoes instead of napping :)

It just gets worse...

A few posts back I wrote something about things getting better. So this time I thought I switch things up. Actually Ben decided to switch things up.

I was summoned upstairs by my nephew tonight to find out he hit his older cousin with a very large toy, and pulled two of his girl cousins hair. I separated him and sent his dad after him. In a moment of insanity Will left his side for a minute. Well a minute was all it took. The markers were found and Ben wrote all over moms piano, wall, chairs and couch. He was nice enough to point out we had missed cleaning the mirror he had markered on as well when we missed that. Before you all feel really glad your son isn't as crazy as my son- I think you should know it was washable marker. I assure you he would have never colored with permanent marker.

 Really though- overall Ben is not too bad. He's got his dads mind his moms energy and a will that just doesn't quit. I am really very impressed with the strong individual we have for a son. Even if most sundays it takes all I am to not run out of the chapel screaming…. Ok enough of Ben lets talk about James…

We recently found out he is in the 91st percentile in height. He is 10 months old and wears 18 month old clothes. He is only in the 30th percentile in weight so he is skinny and tall like his dad. Another wonderful development has been his first tooth!  It took 9 months but it is there and there is another bump underneath his gums that seems to be promising to pop up anytime. As for smiles- he always has them. One of the women in the Relief Society told me today- "I used to think James just really liked me. But as I watch him he smiles at everyone-- I'm not his favorite after all." And it's true - everyone feels special around this kid and I love it.

As for Will and I, we are stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out how to be good parents. Days like today I feel like we're failing miserably. I can see how that first child can be such a learning curve. WE have NO idea what we are doing! I hope we don't ruin our kids :) Life is consistently busy for me trying to keep up with housework, kids, and work and Will's business. Finding a minute to myself is just not in the cards at this season of my life-- I'm not complaining - but I will be if I've gained 60 pounds by the time I get a minute to exercise someday ;)  But really I'd give it all up and so much more to have the family I do and to be together. I do love my life and I was kidding-- It does get better everyday!

Binky and smiling

I don't really have time to write as much as I used to. Every minute of my weekday is chuck full of child raising or working/writing. I can't neglect this blog for one more minute though- so husby with toothbrush in hand waiting for me to come to bed will be waiting just a few more minutes :)

Ben: It wasn't a drama- I held off for sooooo long on taking his binky from him. I didn't want him to be sad for days on end and cry for hours upon hours. The morning we took away his binky he cried a little but then it was over. He hasn't looked back since. He sleeps fine with out it and whenever he bumps his knee or hits his head he doesn't need it as a crutch to suck on. So come to find out I was the baby not willing to give up the binky-- how many lessons will I need to learn.

Next, I'm going to paint you a graph in your mind. If you could sketch the length, loudness and frequency of tantrums over the period of 18 months to 4 years old the line definitely goes up and up and up. I had NOOOOO idea what I was in for. Ben has such a strong will and when I tell him he can't have any more soda he slams his hands on the counter jumps up and down and cries like I was taking away his left arm.  Holy cow man! I feel like all the tanturming has me regressing. I think  the length, loudness and frequency of my own tantrums are definitely headed up on the tantrum scale. Being the bigger man here is hard - especially when tantrum number 62 from the day is on it's way. Now lest you think Ben is over the top he is not. He is average I think. No one told me - I"m just saying no one warned me about the terrible two not being just a bunch of cute flour on their face moments-- they are TERRIBLE :)-- and wonderful of course.

James: I have never met a more smiley baby than this little man. He is extraordinary! At church wherever I sit I've got instant friends to my right, left, behind and in front. He engages everyone- I can't even carry a conversation without some pause in the middle to have them google at this kid who is smiley their way. He is soooo sweet!  Other things about James as he is now 9 months old. He still has no teeth and does not crawl. He is great with Ben even though I can't even put a number to the times Ben knocks him off of his seat everyday. They laugh together and Ben is always bringing him toys. I hope they will become the best of friends- They are already off to a good start.

Hubby and I. Will is doing some writing work to become a medical writer and I am doing more writing work for an Au Pair firm. We keep busy and we are happy. So we can't complain. We'll I better get off - I think my hubby has already fallen asleep!

Talk to ya sooner than last time!!

Summer

One more thing- I got glasses for the first time in my life! 34.5 years old…

Potty Training and more...

James:

Cutest new thing: Ben just looks at him and James laughs!  He loves his big brother so much. James rolled over about 4 1/2 months and has no sign of teeth yet (he is 5 1/2 months old now). He still sleeps in a bassinet in my room in his car seat. The car seat is for is GERD, and the staying in our room is because Ben's new thing is to climb into the crib and jump-- I can't imagine what that might look like if James was in there…Yikes!

Ben:

This morning Will listened as Ben sang Twinkle Twinkle little star from start to finish, and afterwards Will asked him to sing it again and he said "No I don't want to sing it again."  Lately when I ask him if "he wants to do something or no" he says "or no" I 'm afraid I've taught Ben a nonexistent extension to the word No.

I tried potty training Ben on Monday and I got a stomach bug on Tuesday; by then I lost a lot of steam but pressed forward on the training...by the time Tuesday's sun was setting - Ben was back in diapers. Now the thought of picking back up the "big boy underwear" and trying the training again feels like insanity.

Will:

Thinking about pursuing a job in the continuing medical education field- creating materials for doctors. To be continued…

Summer:
Traumatized. I don't know how any mother survives potty training.

It just gets better

I've got to start this one out with Ben. He has had an explosion of cuteness lately. He can count to 11 and he knows his colors, says his letters and he sings twinkle twinkle little star and repeats his favorite book passages to us.  The other day he looked at the icicles hanging from our roof and said "cute popsicles." At night after we put him down he will get up and knock at the door and when we open the door he passes us and hands us his binki and says "here you go" (I only give him is binki for naps and bedtime). He is in this habit of helping his cousin Mikayla to know what she can and cannot do-- "no touch that" or "turn that on Kalya…" My cute little demanding tyke is adorable!  Another cute thing is  I find cars and toys lined up all around the house and the places we go. Ben is very particular about this. One day I moved one out of line, while he wasn't looking to see if he would notice. When he looked back he saw the car out of line and quickly put it back.

 Another favorite activities of my little Benny is that he loves to walk around the house picking things up with the dinner tongs. Below is one of Ben's tong/clamp projects he worked hard and was able to de-petal the flowers Will gave me in less than an hour ;)

James is moving right along as well. He keeps pulling himself to a sitting position when he is in the bouncer-- I'm afraid he will roll himself right out of it. He still spits up like it's nobody's business- but apparently he is keeping some of it down-- his 4 months stats were 80 percent in height, 30 percent in weight and 33 percent in head percentile.  Ben was about 90 percent head percentile and 50 percent height at this point…  James doesn't mind tummy time and he doesn't care about water in his face. James is very smiley, in fact so much so that everyone refers to him as the smiley baby. He will smile even when he is upset if you smile at him.  He still sleeps in my bedroom in a play pen in the car seat because of his GERD.  His older brother also just acquired the skill of climbing into the crib. I am not quite comfortable with a toddler jumping on my baby yet -- so I keep him with Will and I.

 James started rice cereal at 4 1/2 months

 I'm not going to say out loud that little James is a favorite around family ;)

As far as Will and I are concerned we just tottle around with our kids thinking they are the cutest things we've every seen. We loved celebrating Christmas with them (even if Ben did start out the day with a tantrum).  This parenting stuff is totally our dreams come true!  Even though it means less sleep, more noise(crying) in the house and no time for the ski slopes.  Our home is filled with their sweet innocence and unconditional love. 

 Yes the crazy person behind us is a relative… distant… once removed… Or maybe he is our
brother-in-law Derik- I can't remember. 

Laughing

I have to take a minute today to say: He laughed.  Yesterday James laughed for the first time. I had forgotten how extraordinary it is to hear a little person laugh for the very first time ever. To know or hope that we will share a lifetime of laughing and smiling is the best feeling. I love James so much. He is three months old and he makes my heart melt.

Summer

ps This video is of James talking. I thought that it was too cute not to post :)

pps James does not have cold -- the cough is his routine- it's his way of getting rid of acid that comes up from his stomach and settles in his throat.