Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Kids

Kids, inconvenient as they are, are a blessing.  They teach us to love in ways we never knew we could.  I am beginning to understand why our "annoying" parents treat us like little kids, even after we've grown up.  Because our kids will always be our kids, and we want so much to help them and do things for them so that they will never get hurt.  As parents, we desire most to protect our children, and it is so hard when the best thing for them is for us to step back and let them grow up, let them face their problems with the tools they were given, and allow them the chance to achieve their potential.

I suppose with the new baby and all I'm extra emotional, but I need to write these feelings down so I can remember why we brought them into the world when I'm tempted to take them out of it ;-)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What We've Been Up To

Here's a picture update of the haps from the last few months...


In August we went on a little family trip down to Moab with two pregnant ladies: myself and my  sister-in-law Paula.  We hiked, and we were awesome.  The pictures of us, however, were not.  But Evie had a blast and climbed all the way up to this ridiculously high spot navigated by Kristen, John, and Grandpa.  I, the mother, was nervous the entire time she took this adventure.

 In October, my cousin Stacia's little girl had her first birthday party, which we were honored to attend.


Evie had fun learning to eat a push-pop.  That brought back memories :-)


Also in October, Paula had her baby girl, April.  Evie was very excited to meet a real, live baby.


With me being preggers this fall, we didn't make it out too much, but Evie did get to play outside a little bit.  She rode her tricycle around the back patio...


...and scavenged for bugs.


Evie also found some resilient weeds and helped me removed them.


She is such a good helper.


Yes, we did have a Thanksgiving, but who takes pictures of that?  Not me, obviously.  I was good and got lots of pictures of Christmas, though :-)



I love those Crayola markers that only color on these specific pages.  As a renter, I am much more comfortable letting 3 year old Evie use these kinds of markers.  Brandon helped her figure out how they worked.


After Christmas, we were still busy preparing for the arrival of baby Charlee Brynn, who made her appearance January 5th.


I'm not gonna lie; she looks way cuter after losing the cone-head and getting cleaned up :-)




Last weekend my awesome cousin, Larissa from Visual Legacies, came up to Utah for some photo sessions, and took this of my family with us and our girls.  We are so good lookin' ;-)


And that's pretty much it for the exciting-ish things we've done.  (Other activities not pictured are Brandon at work and me attempting to handle two kids instead of one.)

Monday, March 5, 2012

Remembering

Yes, I realize I haven't updated our blog in 4+ months, and I'll relive all the juicy happenings in that time some other time.  But today I've wanted to write down things about our life as it is now, so that I can remember it when Brandon and I are empty nesters, and remind myself that we are accomplishing great things. 

Today is significant because it marks Charlee's 2 month "birthday."  I tried semi-hard to get a picture of her smiling; she's been doing that more and more as of late, and it is just the cutest thing.  Anywho, here is my list of significant and not-so-significant details to remember 20 or so years from now:
  • Charlee, as I mentioned previously, is beginning to smile on a more consistent basis.  I used to get nervous when I would see her smile, because it was only an involuntary spasm/twitch that meant unpleasantness was on its way. But now she's beginning to smile more in congruence with happy feelings.
  • In addition to goofy and adorable smiles, Charlee is becoming more vocal, which is also cute and endearing. Bring on the cooing and rewarding interactions that have been few and far between up till now.
  • In mobility news: Charlee is getting dangerously close to rolling over. When I say "dangerously," I mean I can no longer leave her on the couch while I throw away a dirty diaper and still be a responsible parent. C'est la vie.
  • Charlee is a fist chomper.  She is also pretty good with a binky.  While the fist chomping is cute (she can go to town on it), I've been trying to substitute the binky for the fist.  I think when it comes down to weaning her off of the habit, I'd rather be able to throw away a binky instead of cutting off her hands.  Just a personal preference.
  • Evie is growing up so fast.  It's funny how you really don't notice that change has occurred until you look back at where you started and can see how far you've come.  Evie has turned into such a sweet little girl.  As I'm writing this I'm recalling all her not-so-sweet moments, but overall, she is a well-behaved, endearing little girl.
  • Evie is a Disney junkie.  She loves everything related to Disney princesses, and right now her favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty.  She loves her little princess dolls, and sleeps with them every night.  She is never without them, they are simply an extension of her being.
  • At this point, about half of Evie's intelligible speech is movie quotes, which is good and bad.  Bad because she does, in fact, watch way too much TV, and good because it is helping her speech improve, along with the reading and singing we do together.
  • Evie is a great big sister.  Almost from the moment she met Charlee, she has been nothing but caring to and protective of baby Charlee.  When we would take Charlee in for her bilirubin tests, Evie would make it harder for everyone by trying to prevent the nurses from taking Charlee's blood.  It was her baby Charlee.  So cute :-)
  • One of my favorite things about Evie right now is our bathroom routine.  She goes in by herself, pulls her pants down, hoists herself up onto the toilet, does her business, and yells, "I done!"  I respond by going in, having her lean forward, and wiping her off.  When she leans forward, every time, without fail, she wraps her arms around one or both of my legs and says, "Love you too, Mom."  What a sweetheart.
  • This isn't really new, but Evie still knows, as she has for years now, that she has the gift of persuasion, which is in some part why I'm not a very good mother.  She knows if she gives you "the smile" with words and phrases dripping in honey and everything sweet, that she can get what she wants.  She's so smart.

These are just a few of the things that I've asterisked in my brain to try to remember about our little girls.  They both are growing up so fast that I have to remind myself to find these little details and cherish the special moments that I have with them.

I will at some point do a "catch-up" post that will maybe include pictures.  Anyone who knows me at all knows that I suck at documenting things, especially when it comes to picture-taking.  I apologize now to my children and future progeny for my lack in this department.