Top 10 Things I've Learned As A Mom

1. Adding a long "e" sound at the end of any word can make it sound almost delightful. Example: Poopies, pukies, etc.


2. The phrase "It's different when it's your own" is totally true. I remember my mother-in-law saying this to me one time when I was dry heaving as my niece blew snot bubbles out of her nose. I thought there was no way I could handle something like wiping a snotty nose. Turns out, when it's your own kid, it's no biggy. In fact, you'd be surprised at the items you'd be willing to wipe your kid's nose on. Example: inside of your own t-shirt, your sock, etc.


3. There is no diaper available on the market today that can contain the explosive, mustardy liquid known as infant poop. It just doesn't exist. Don't waste your time trying every single brand. Just buy yourself the industrial size bottle of Shout and be prepared to treat a lot of stains.


4. You CANNOT force a two-year old to eat his vegetables. Don't try to bribe him. Don't try to coerce him. Don't try to hide peas in his tater tots. He'll just learn to hate tater tots, too.


5. The mind of a mother is runs at 110%, 24 hours a day. A mother's brain is constantly planning meals, making grocery lists, memorizing names of children in the neighborhood, taking inventory of what needs to be cleaned next, choosing outfits for tomorrow, prioritizing errands, worrying about whether that rash is severe enough to warrant the doctor's attention, etc. This constant overworking of the mind leads to occasional forgetfulnes. Such as the time I left for work without one very import piece of my breast pump. I remembered my purse, my lunch, a cooler, ice packs, my bag containing bottles, and most of the parts of the pump, but I left one little part of it in the dishwasher. Luckily, a kind husband rushed it to me before I exploded. (This just happened today)


6. My kids are the cutest. And your kids are the cutest to you. We are each convinced that our own children are the most exquisite of all of God's creations. We can't be talked out of it. And that's okay. But just so you know, my kids really are the cutest.


7. If you have a choice between epidural and no epidural, GO WITH THE EPIDURAL! Childbirth is painful. I don't think I fully appreciated this until my second child was born and it happened so fast that the epidural didn't have time to kick in. Now that it's over, I can say, "Oh, that wasn't so bad." But in the back of my mind I know I'll be asking my OB to give me my epidural a week before my next baby is due, just in case.


8. Children grow at a rate equal to the speed of light. Seriously. Everyone tells you, "Enjoy them. They grow up fast." But I had no idea how fast. Tomorrow morning I'll wake up and my two year old will be seventeen.


9. Playgroup is really for the mommies. Under the pretense that we're filling our children's social needs, we gather each week for a little bit of what moms crave most: adult conversation. After spending days on end at home with your kids, with the largest word you've used in days being "peanutbutter" or "Snuffleupagus", you NEED to chat with other moms. Even if all you do is talk about your kids and how they love peanutbutter and Snuffleupagus, somehow your sanity is saved by playgroup.


10. I never really knew how strong love could be or what true joy was until my children were born. These two little angels sent from heaven can be such a challenge and can try my patience more than I thought possible, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. They make my life so much richer and I love them more than words can say. Thank you, Tate and Tori, for making me a mom. I love it.

Sweet, Sweet Summer

School's out! Yay! And Daddy is home for two months for summer break. We kicked off his vacation by going to the Bees game on Friday night. You might be confused about this first picture. Well, we decided to ride Trax to the game and Tate pointed out this sign in the parking lot. He said, "Look, a potty." I assumed he associated the sign with potties because of the stick figure on a blue background being similar to those that designate Mens and Womens restrooms. But then he said, "That guy is sitting on the potty." Well, by dang if it doesn't look like a guy sitting on the potty. This should be the international symbol for restroom.

Riding the train to the baseball game.

Tate and daddy enjoying the game.

It turns out Tori is a baseball fan, too. As long as she can cuddle up in her blankey and sleep for a few innings.

The game went into extra innings and the Bees ended up winning in the bottom of the eleventh. That's a lot of innings for a little boy to sit through. Luckily, the people in front of us kept him entertained and gave him treats like this big hunk of cotton candy.

Warning: Cotton candy may cause severe stickiness accompanied by the growth of facial hair.

Saturday we headed over to the Stake Family Fun Day. Breakfast was followed by an array of activities, including train rides, face painting, fishing pond, pony rides, dunking machine, tug-o-wars, snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn, etc. Tate loved the train rides.

And, much to my surprise, he agreed to get a Tiger painted on his face. He spent most of the morning growling at everyone.

And, again to my surprise, he enjoyed riding the ponies. It's been a fun couple of days and now we're looking forward to a good, long Sunday to rest and get the sugar out of our systems.

The Underwear Tree

We've spent the last few weeks getting really serious about potty training. Tate has responded well, and after two weeks of frustration came two weeks of success! He still wears pull-ups at bedtime, but he's a pro at keeping his undies clean and dry during the day. A result of this potty training has been Tate's unusual attachment to his underpants. He especially likes his Buzz Lightyear pairs. He's been known to carry them around the house, take them to bed with him, and arrive at a soccer game with a pair in each hand. Today he was in the backyard with me while I was watering the flowers when he decided he needed to help me. I told him to go put his underpants down and I turned around and to see that he had found a special place for them. (This dead bush/tree was going to be dug out and done away with, but I think the underwear give a nice look, don't you?)

This is my big, potty-using boy. Yeah!!

I bribed Tate with a Twinkie to get him to sit still and smile for this picture. I think it turned out pretty cute. While Tate's been busy learning all about potty usage, Tori has been growing like weed. At her two month appointment she weighed 11 lb 15 oz (75%)and was 22 1/2 inches long (50%). She also rolled over for the first time last night. These kids are growing up too fast.

Tate and Tori with Grandpa and Grandma, also known as "The Spoilers". These two grandparents are so generous it's really getting ridiculous. Thanks for all you guys do for us!

This is what I call bliss: Daddy putting both kids (and himself) to sleep :)

Cute Pic

I had to post this picture my mom got of Tori on Sunday. She's actually smiling!!!

Tori's Blessing Day

A baby comes,

a household hums,

love welcomes

sweet perfection.

A prayer ascends,
the Lord extends
His blessings
and protection.

Yesterday we blessed Tori and spent a wonderful day with our family. Tori looked so pretty in her blessing dress. I bought this dress only a few weeks after I found out we were having a girl. I was shopping with my mom and sister when we found it and I just loved it. It has been hanging in her closet waiting for her for months. I think it was a perfect fit.

A few weeks ago I ran all over town looking for a pair of frilly socks so I had to include a picture that showed her feet. (Sorry she looks kinda angry in this one)

Happy family. Man, I love these two kids! And my hubby!

This picture is one of my favorites. Tori surrounded by a just a few of her cousins. Look at these adorable future mothers! They just had to be around the baby, stroking her cheeks, playing with her hands, telling her how pretty she was. They were so cute!

What a cute, little face! (Couldn't you just squeeze those cheeks?!) Of course I couldn't get her to smile like this while she was in her blessing clothes, but I'll take this one anyway. Thank you to all of our awesome family that celebrated this special day with us. We love you!!

Easter Fun

Happy Easter! (A few days late) We celebrated this weekend with the traditional coloring and hunting of the eggs, and, of course, getting all dressed up in our Easter best to attend church. (First time back since the baby was born. Missed most of Sacrament meeting due to an urgent feeding, followed by blow-out cleanup)

While we were coloring eggs I tried to explain to Tate the real meaning behind Easter. It's kind of a difficult concept for a two-year old to grasp and I think he is now just extremely confused. Something happened to Jesus because he loves me, there's hard-boiled eggs that we dip in colored water, some sort of scarey, ginormous bunny breaks into my house to hide plastic eggs, and, the saving grace of the whole holiday, the plastic eggs contain candy.

Chubby Bubby

Tori is now 3 weeks old. She had her two week check up last week which confirmed my suspicion that this girl knows how to pack on the pounds. She was up to 8 lb 15.5 oz, which puts her in the 70th percentile. She was also 20 3/4 inches long, which is the 65th percentile. So our girl is definitely getting chubby. I love it!

Tate, Tori, and Daddy, just hanging out.

So serious. Tori is starting to smile a little bit, but they are so few and far between that I haven't caught one on camera.

This is how Tate spent conference weekend. Watching movies while we all watched the prophet.

This picture was taken just this morning. I got up the nerve and took both kids grocery shopping with me! It was a daring adventure that actually turned out quite well. I got every item on my list, Tori slept quietly in the frontpack, and Tate downed lots of snacks while "driving" in the front of one of those carts that looks like a truck. While I unloaded all of the groceries from the car, Tori was laying on the floor and was starting to get a little fussy. I finished unloading, and then headed upstairs to get her and I found Tate laying by her, blanket thrown across both them, saying "It's okay Tori, it's okay." So cute :)