Five months

Has it been five months already? Alice is a little ray of sunshine. She always has a smile and a snuggle for me when I am frustrated and fed up with the antics of her 2 year old sister. She sleeps well, she wakes up happy, and she laughs easily. Her favorite things to laugh at are her daddy tickling her, Elsie singing/dancing, and my hair. Alice still hasn't fully mastered rolling from her tummy to her back. She has done it a few times, but not consistently, so she still gets really frustrated when she rolls and gets stuck on her tummy. She has started scooting around. Not quite with purpose yet, but she is definitely traveling. Her preferred way is to lay on her back and kick with her feet until she scoots off the blanket or mat she is playing on. She is grabbing at everything, but her favorite thing to play with is Alan's tie on Sundays. She will sneakily reach out and grab it without Alan noticing and then eat it as fast as she can before he catches on and takes it away.

Dancing Girls

Sunday Song

I know it's Friday, but since YouTube took down the Friday song, this will have to do.

Translation: Wee no wee... Oh I know day. On Sunday. Oh Sunday. Sunday. On wa na day. Uh, you you you you you, me. Oh why all together. And church. And church and church. And now I say bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Words, words, words

Elsie has a funny way of saying things. Here are a few of my favorites:

-"It ok. Elsie right here. Daddy back hoon." (what she says while rubbing my back if I ever look upset or angry)
-"Bap-byes" (french fries)
-"Municks" (fingers. No idea where she came up with that one)
-"Baby one" (Alice)
-"I pee all day!" or "I pee all night!" (stop asking me to use the potty, I'm fed up with it)
-"Lip up more milk ippy peese" (fill up my milk sippy please)
-"Bik a me!" (look at me)
-"Dal up" (stand up)
-"Boops", "boops pad", and "boops bra" (take a guess)
-"Dinner ready!" (whenever anything beeps)
-"Oh no! Alice lip up on me!" (Alice spit up on me)
-"Smile baby one! I dance for you!"
-"No eat it baby one!" (when Alice steals one of her toys)
-"Lub you" (love you)

There are a lot more, but that is all I can think of right now.

New Photo

It was time to update our family picture. I really like the self-portrait we took as we were heading out to the Farmer's Market.

Our Relief Society had a service auction a few weeks ago. I walked away with some pretty cool stuff, including a one on one photo editing lesson. I cashed in on it today and just finished my hour long personalized lesson.

Let's face it, I don't do much with my photos. I'll take out some red eye, but sometimes I'm too lazy to do even that. I'm sure my sister Becky cringes when she sees some of my unedited photos pop up on my blog. Now, thanks to Ann Cue, I have a few simple tricks I can use to spruce up my pictures and make them look a little better.

Happy Father's Day

We love you guys!

Farmer's Market

Our big city boasts that it has the largest farmer's market in the nation. I haven't been to that many to compare it to, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is true. It takes up the entire city block around the capitol building with as many vendors as they can squeeze together. Vendors even bleed out onto the opposite side of the street in the "unofficial" farmer's market. Today was our second time braving the crowds.Last time we put the girls in the double stroller. Bad idea. Too many people walking around and navigating that thing was a nightmare. We are too afraid that Elsie would run off and be lost forever in the throngs of people to have her walk around by herself. We thought about putting Alice in a stroller, but again, even a single stroller would be hard to push through all the people.
Our backpacks worked out great. It was hot, sweaty work for Alan and I, but it kept the girls close and they enjoyed a nice view of everything going on. Elsie kept a running commentary going on in Alan's ear and Alice fell asleep for most of it.

Good haul today. We came away with two jars of salsa (one was not enough last time), tortillas, fresh cilantro, strawberries, and spicy cheesy bread. The strawberries are small and not that great to look at, but they pack quite a lot of flavor and juice into those little berries. Spicy cheesy bread is what everyone gets and munches on as they walk the market, and there is a reason why. It is fantastic.

Down the Drain

That is were Elsie potty training has been going. Or, not going, if you look at it that way...
After three or so weeks of doing great and only having maybe a handful of accidents, she has stopped using the potty all together. I can't figure it out. Did it just get boring? Scary? Is she just tired of it? She is back in diapers now, but I don't know if that is just enabling her not using the potty. Sigh...

I'm not sure what I should do with her. The more we ask (plead, beg) her to use the potty, the more resistant she gets. Should we just leave it alone for a little while and try again later, or keep pushing it now? She must get this stubborn streak from her dad... :)

On a sweeter note, Alice loves her daddy's goatee. She was getting sleepy last night while Alan was snuggling with her. She sat in the crook of his arm with her thumb in her mouth and her other hand stroking and fingering his goatee. It was a precious moment.

Edit: As soon as I hit publish, Elsie came up and told me she had to pee, then proceeded to use the potty. Maybe I just need to back off and let her do what she wants to do. She knows how and when to use the potty, do I just let her decided if she wants to use it?

I was trying to be such a fun mom...

It is a rainy day today. (I might have a little anxiety about it given that last week this happened and Alan is going off to mutual again tonight, but that's not what I'm blogging about right now.)

I thought it would be a fun, indoor activity for Elsie and I to build a blanket fort today. We cleared off the table, pulled away the chairs, found the biggest blanket and made a big "tunnel" (that is what Elsie called it).

We got a little electric candle and crawled into our fort. We brought a few of her stuffed animals in to keep her company. We got her crayons and coloring book. We colored together for a while.

Then Elsie tried to stand up and smashed her head on the table. And then she hit it again. And again. She was done with our blanket fort after that.

Small Town Life

Though I've never considered myself a city girl by any means, I never thought I would end up in a small town like we are now. A drive by the welcome sign says that it has a population of just over 10,000, but it is growing quite a bit. We are just a suburb of a larger city, so we are only a short drive away from all the major store and shopping centers and everything else we could want.

I'm surprised at how much I really like it here. There is one grocery store in town; a little locally owned shop. It is an "& Sons" type of store, so I'm not sure how long it has been around. When I only have a few things to pick up (and the weather is nice) I like to pack the girls into the bike trailer and ride down to the store.

I don't know how it is at different times of the day, but when the girls and I go first thing in the morning it is pretty empty. Again, maybe it's a timing thing, but all of the workers are sweet old grandparent type people. They love my girls and fawn all over them, ask what I need and then take me right to it, have a treat for Elsie from the bakery, and carry my groceries out and load them into the bike trailer for me.

Main street isn't very long, but it has a few treasures that I'm looking forward to exploring. There is a little thrift store, a few coffee and pastry shops, family owned restaurants, and several more little stores that sell a variety of things. I think I could get used to living here for a while.

Pretty songs are exhausting

Bowling

Our local bowling alley participates in the summer Kids Bowl Free program. Elsie has a pass for two free games every day of the summer. Today was the first time we tried it out and Elsie loved it. We would sometimes go and she would "help" Alan bowl in his bowling class at BYU, but today she had the shoes, her own ball, and the bumpers up so she usually knocked at least one of the pins down.

For the really young kids, they have a ramp that Elsie can put the ball on and push it down. She thought that was pretty cool.
The bowling alley has special six pound balls that they save for the little kids. She had to pick it up and carry it herself during her turn. She would say "Oof, Elsie so strong".
I'm a little proud of this score board because (a) it is the highest score I've ever gotten and (b) I beat Alan. My score is slightly inflated due to the fact that the gutter bumpers were up, but hey, a 120 is a 120. Our names were El Guapo, Hot Mama, and Squirt, in case you were wondering.
Alice was Alan's good luck charm. He tended to bowl better if he was holding her.
During the second game Elsie decided she didn't want to use the ramp anymore. She had to crouch down and push the ball with all her might. I think her average ball speed by the time it hit the pins was about 1.5 mph.


Not as impressive as the first game (for me at least, Alan scored higher this time).
We had a lot of fun. Alice didn't like the loud noises as much, but she was just fine as long as she was being held. Elsie had a blast and I'm sure we will go a lot more before the summer is over.

Last Night

It was a long and uneventfully day yesterday. It had been raining off and on all day so we were stuck inside. Alan got home from work, ate dinner, and then had to go off to mutual with his Deacons. I was looking forward to putting the girls to bed and then having a little quiet time to myself.

Alice was in bed asleep. Elsie and I had just finished reading her bedtime story. The storm had been steadily picking up intensity and it suddenly got ferocious right in the middle of our night time prayer. The windows were rattling and almost flexing from the wind. The rain was beating on our screen door. Lightning was flashing across the sky. I was getting worried.

I got on weather.com and there were several severe thunderstorm warnings. I flipped on the TV and the emergency broadcast system was playing. Tornado warning sounded for my county. The automated voice declared that we needed to seek shelter immediately and, if possible, get underground.

I started shaking. Moving quickly, I slipped on my shoes, put Elsie's sandals on, grabbed a diaper bag and scooped up both my girls. We headed out of our apartment and down the stairs to the underground parking garage. Seconds later all of our neighbors start pouring in. All of the kids were in jammies, some of them barefoot, and one poor little boy was only in a pair of underwear.

The building was rattling and the lights were flickering. I barely had a cell signal in the garage, but not enough to get a hold of Alan. A neighbor let me borrow her phone so I could call and make sure he was ok and inside. We had no access to news; all we had were snippets we heard from the TV as we were running down stairs. Vortex clouds above us. Funnels sighted but not touching down. At one point the lights went out and every one held up their cell phones to try and collect the kids who had been running around in circles(Elsie included).

And that's how we stayed for about forty five minutes. Finally the building stopped shaking. The thunder rumble was further in the distance. A few people peeked outside to see how it looked. The rain had calmed down. After a little deliberation, we all headed back upstairs to our homes to check the news and see what was happening. The storm had passed over us and the danger was gone.

Alan came home. The girls were put back to bed. I tried to calm down and relax.

Laying in bed I couldn't help think about it. Not so much about what could have happened, but more what if it happens again. Alan said he heard the warning sirens in town, but we must be too far away from them to hear. The only reason I got the warning is because I was looking for it. What if something like that happens in the middle of the night when we are all asleep?

Looking out our window this morning the lawn was a mess. Roof tiles and branches all over the ground. Pool chairs blown around and even at the bottom of the pool. Branches down all over town and power outages in several places.

I'm just glad that we are all safe and sound.

New Callings and a Published Paper

We have new callings in our ward. I will be teaching the 12 and 13 year old Sunday School class. The last Sunday School class I taught was in my singles ward the summer/fall before Alan and I got married. The class was full of freshly returned missionaries, so all I had to do was look cute and they were more than happy to try and impress me by answering questions and participating in discussions. My class attendance noticeably dropped once I got engaged...

The teacher I am replacing has been teaching the class for over a year and a half, so I'm a little nervous. My plan is to bring cookies and treats for a while to effectively win them over. That, and be a darn good teacher.

Alan will be working with the Deacons Quorum. Since his job doesn't require a lot of travel like a good number of the men in the ward, they have asked him to go to Wednesday night mutual and on any scouting outings he can fit into his schedule. I guess they figure he needs some male interaction since he's living in a house full of girls.

Alan just received word that the final paper he helped co-author before leaving BYU is going to be published in the RESER 2011 workshop as part of Empirical Software Engineering International Week (ESEIW) 2011. It is titled Design Patterns in Software Maintenance: An Experiment Replication at Brigham Young University. I don't remember what it is about, I just know he worked on a lot of surveys and reworked the data to make it usable. Not bad for an undergrad.

Edit: Alan fixed the links in the last paragraph because I had no idea what they were supposed to be, so my previous links were to the wrong thing...

Home improvements and other such things

We have been working on organizing and decorating our apartment. First up is my new corner shelf. We have this really weird little corner indent in the middle of the wall near the kitchen and for a while I had no idea what to do with it. Then Alan found this shelf online and it was delivered on Saturday. I think it is fantastic.

We finally have some organization in the girls bathroom. This has really cleared up the sink counter.
I thought this was pretty cool. I found it in the office section of the store. Any one know what to do with eight hundred paper clips in eight different colors?
All of Elsie's friends now have a nice, comfy home above her bed. I wonder if she worries at night about them all falling on top of her...
Last but not least, a little bit of hometown art in the master bathroom. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the layout quite yet... Any suggestions?
Despite my post from yesterday, the girls and I do have a lot of fun together...
...Sometimes.

Can I just say it?

I should sit and blog about our weekend because we had a pretty good time. Farmers market, swimming, redecorating (or decortating for the first time)... but I have something else on my mind.

It really kind of ticks me off when I read posts or blogs or books where people talk about motherhood and say they loved every minute of it.

I don't know why exactly it makes me so upset. Does it make me feel inadequate? Does it make me feel like if I'm not enjoying every second I must be doing something wrong? Does it mean I don't love my kids as much as they do?

I know it's just a figure of speech, but I don't love every minute of being a mom. I love my kids, more than I ever thought I could. But I don't love the moment at 3 in the morning when I wake up to Elsie standing next to my bed saying "Hi Mom. Elsie woke up."

Or when Alice spits up all down my pants for the 12th time that day.

Or when I'm trying to scrub crayon out of the carpet.

Or when I walk into church and realize my shirt is suddenly covered with fresh, warm, baby poop.

Am I not as good as a mom because I can't seem to love those moments?

One of those mornings...

Elsie woke up way too early. She's been climbing/covering/laying on/pushing wildly in the swing/and trying to roll Alice over all morning. Alice has been very sensitive this morning, so she startles and starts crying every time I reprimand Elsie. Which has been happening a lot. Alice rolled over and got stuck against the couch when Elsie was sitting on the potty and started yelling. I went to rescue her and Elsie got too excited and hopped down and peed all over the bathroom floor. There is something in the air that is making my allergies go crazy, so we can't go outside to blow off some steam without it making me want to scratch my eyes out.

I am very ready for it to be nap time...

3 Day Potty Training - Recap

Well, we lived through it. We didn't stick too rigidly to the "child must be naked for it to work" or "one hour out on the second day and two hours out of the house on the third day". Going to church caused a hiccup, and our day trip to Epic did as well. It is so nerve wracking having a two year old running around free as a jay bird in an apartment that is 80% carpet...

All in all, our potty training boot camp served its purpose in kicking off potty training. Elsie now knows when she has to go potty and tells us when she needs to go. She still has maybe one or two accidents and sometimes doesn't make it to the bathroom fast enough, but she's doing very well. We still have her in diapers for nap time and bed time, but most of the time she wakes up dry and then uses the potty. We have her in pull ups during the day, mostly for my convenience and peace of mind. She is still afraid to use pottys that are outside of our house, but we're working on it. Every morning she wakes up ready to use the potty and does really well through out the morning and afternoon, but she tends to get a little bored of it as the evening wears on. That's when we start asking (pleading?) her to use the potty, and she gets a little (a lot) annoyed with us.
We met Alan after play group to have lunch with him in the Epic cafeteria. While there I snapped a quick picture of the slide by his office.

Also, this happened today at play group. I guess it's been a while since the back of my neck has been exposed to the sun...