Maughansters, Inc.

Fun Saturday

2012-02-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was an unusually busy one for us.

I spent the morning here for work.

Tyson took the kids to Discovery Gateway while I was at the conference. Scarlett had a blast! Ollie was a good boy and just hung out and played a little.

After the conference was over I met them at The Gateway for lunch and then we headed home. When we got to about 7200 South, Scarlett realized she didn't have her jacket and we had to turn back around and get it. Tyson called to see if it was in the Lost and Found but they didn't have it. Scarlett said she left it in the kitchen play area, so when we got there that's where Tyson headed. By this time both kids were sleeping so I stayed in the car while Tyson ran inside. Tyson came back with Scarlett's jacket and said that when he got to kitchen area there was a little girl wearing it. He asked her dad if that was her jacket and the dad said it was hanging with the other play clothes so she put it on. Tyson explained it was Scarlett's and that she'd left it and they had a good laugh.

Tyson had to go into work for a bit after we got home to prepare for an upcoming project so the kids and I went grocery shopping. When we got home I got to be the subject of one of Tyson's school projects. The weather this winter has been unseasonably mild. I'm not complaining because I have loved not wearing a jacket. While Tyson and I worked on the project Scarlett dug in her garden and Ollie sat in the exersaucer.

I was even able to sneak out for a bit and get Red Mango with a friend! Both kids got baths, we ate dinner, and we even finished some small projects. We fit more in on this Saturday than we usually do in days! It's nice when our schedules coordinate so well and we can work and play. It's a good thing Sunday was so lazy (no football or festivities for us) because we needed to recover from our Saturday! ;)

...

2012-02-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

There have been very times in my life where I've thought "What the hell kind of world do I live in?!" The first time that happened was 9/11. For the first time in my life, the little bubble I lived in was burst. The most recent, and still extremely hard to swallow, instance is the Powell case here in Utah and Washington. 2 years ago Susan Cox-Powell disappeared on a cold winter night, supposedly abandoning her family. However, the part of the story that has never added up was that same night her husband took their two young boys camping in the west Utah desert during a storm. Her husband, Josh, was always a person of interest but was never charged. This past Sunday he did something so horrible, it actually makes me physically sick when I think about it. He murdered his young boys and killed himself in a fire. If that wasn't enough, the horrific details of what he did right before the fire/explosion are unspeakable. This act showed what a selfish coward he was. (And a few other choice expletives.) Anyone who doubted he killed his wife before cannot say that a man who kills his own children wouldn't kill his wife.

As details of this tragedy were coming out Sunday night, I just kept thinking "This is the world we live in. This is the world I'm raising my kids in." I felt physically ill most of the night. I cried as I read and saw news reports and I held my babies closer than ever when I put them to bed. I prayed for Susan's family. It was an emotionally draining evening, and I don't even have a direct connection to the case.

When horrible things like this happen, it is so hard to understand the why.

A comment was posted on Twitter that is something I struggle with.

“@JDanielRollins: Wow. One of the hardest things to comprehend with someone as horrible as Josh Powell, is that God loves him as well.”
— staceymay (@staceymay) February 7, 2012

I get it on an intellectual level, but on an emotional level, I just can't understand it. I get that it's akin to what my dad used to always say "I don't love your bad choices but I always love you." I just have a hard time applying that same principle to this situation. It just seems so...wrong. I know that Heavenly Father is loving and just and even merciful, but I just can't help but think of those boys and all that was taken from them, and think that applying those principles to Josh and what he has done is just so wrong. But I guess that's why I'm mortal and imperfect and still have a long way to go in learning things in the Gospel.

Despite my lack of spiritual and intellectual knowledge on that particular topic, I do know that those boys are reunited with their mother and a Heavenly Father who loves them. My limited understanding doesn't hinder the fact that I know families can be together forever. I may not get the hows and whys of everything else, but I do know that.

9 Month Check Up

2012-02-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Today Ollie had his 9 month check up.

He weighed in at 17.6 lbs (12%), which means he gained back all the weight he lost while sick and teething, but hasn't gained more than that. He's 30.5 inches long (97%), and his head circumference was 17.6 inches (39%). He's still being calculated at one month less than his actual age, but that will probably end soon because he's pretty caught up. The doctor was impressed with Ollie's temperament and his development. He said his fine motor skills are great and he's right on track. Our only goal is to get him close to 20 lbs by his 1st birthday. That's about a pound per month and the doctor thinks that is well within the realm of possibility. He said we need to focus more on foods and getting Ollie interested in feeding himself and trying more table foods. We tried rice puffs the other day and that did not go over well, but the doctor said it's probably a tactile issue and to try again in a couple weeks. The doctor said we shouldn't have nearly the issues with weight and food that we had with Scarlett. Ollie will even be able to start whole milk at 1. Since Ollie was on Nutramigen for colic and then switched to sensitive formula after that, we're slowly weaning him onto regular formula so that when he switches to milk he hopefully won't have any issues. The best part was Ollie didn't get any shots! That was a pleasant surprise. All in all he's just a happy, healthy boy.

Scarlett wanted in a picture with Ollie, so I obliged.

Ollie is now seeing Scarlett's doctor, and I'm very happy with our choice to switch. Driving to Murray to see him is a bit inconvenient, but I absolutely LOVE him and his staff. He's seen Scarlett since she was 6 months old. He knows her and our family very well. When he came in to check Ollie he talked with Scarlett and asked her how she liked having a brother. Scarlett told him they're best friends and she loves him. Then he said "Scarlett, based on this paper right here, Ollie is going to be bigger than you pretty soon. You're nice to him, right?" It was really funny because she said "No! I'm bigger than him. I'm 4!" and the doctor said "You're older but you won't always be bigger." It was lost on Scarlett, but it was funny for us.

And since you know how much I love comparisons, here's one of Scarlett and Ollie both at 9 months.

Scarlett was 15.01 lbs and 27 1/2 inches. Granted, she was considered 7 months at this visit, but Ollie is considered 8 months, so the difference isn't too big. We are very thankful for our happy, healthy babies and their continued growth.

Any bets on when Ollie actually passes Scarlett in weight and/or height?

He's On The Move

2012-02-05T18:32:00.003-07:00

Ollie has been on the brink of crawling for a bit. He's even closer now. He is army crawling all over the place. Goodbye, baby. Hello, toddler. I'm not ready for him to be all over the place, yet. This place is going to be hard to baby proof. Guess we better get on that.

Dude Better Get Used to Being Harassed

2012-02-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Scarlett's favorite thing is to try and make Ollie laugh. She is constantly trying to tickle him, get him to giggle and generally just being silly to get this out of him. Most of the time I find it endearing, but sometimes, I just want to her back the heck up from him. I'm sure he'll soon be able to voice a very similar opinion. I love their little budding friendship.

(It looks like she's abusing him but she's not. It also looks like Tyson is oblivious to us, and he is, but it was a call for work so he's excused.)

9 Months Old

2012-01-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ollie is 9 months! How is that possible?!

This last month was a little rough for Ollie. He was sick for a couple weeks after Christmas and it took a toll on all of us. Luckily he is back to his usual happy self. We are all in better moods too. During the sickness Ollie lost about a pound though. :( He was a little over 17 lbs before and now he's under 16. We're working on putting it back on. Luckily he likes eating and is fairly agreeable to eating baby food. I tried to give him these rice rusk things and he hated them. Then I tried teething biscuits and he hated them. Dude only wants formula or baby food. I guess he'll let us know when he's ready for more food.

Ollie has made small steps toward crawling. He wiggles forward more and he's even tried to figure out how to get on his knees a couple times. Mostly he just gets mad and rolls over. He's still sitting like a champ and has figured out (for the most part) how to catch himself before he falls. He loves sitting anywhere and now we put him in grocery carts and high chairs when we go out. He loves to be a part of the group.

For the most part he is a very chill baby. At home we can get him to laugh and giggle and be excited, but when we're in a group he's very serious. Most of the time you can barely get a smirk out of him. It's so funny. I don't know if it's that phase of so-called stranger anxiety or what. He's never openly freaked out (yet), but he does prefer to be at home with us or with one of us in a crowd.

He's still not sleeping through the night. He does give me about 5-7 hours in his longest stretch so it's fine. He has started rolling over from his back to his stomach to sleep. He still loves to sleep with a soft corner of the blanket up by his face. He loves being rocked to sleep and still loves his waves to help calm him. I'm sure this is a long way off, especially since he hates using his legs, but I dread the day I find him standing in his crib for the first time. It just signifies he's not a baby anymore, and although I love the toddler years, I just want him to stay this sweet, little baby he is. So cuddly, so lovable and so adorable.

My favorite thing that he's started doing is he reaches his arms up to you when you bend to pick him up. The first time he did it was so precious. (And I freaking hate that word.) He just looked up at me whimpering and held up his arms. Now he does it every time. That dude has his mama wrapped around his finger.

He's been wearing 9 month clothes for a few weeks now and even some 12 month stuff because he's so long. I'm hoping he'll break the 20 lb mark at about 1 year. The funny thing is him and Scarlett will be in the same size diapers soon. The 3s are fine for him now, but once he chunks back up he'll need the 4s. (She wears a 4 to sleep in at night.) He also had 4 of his top teeth start to come in. 2 are fully in and the other 2 are still working their way in. What's funny is the two that are in are the side teeth. He has a weird vampire grin going on. (Even though I know those teeth aren't his eye teeth.)

All in all Ollie is just a happy, healthy boy. He's getting to be so fun as he's learning and exploring his surroundings. We love our baby boy so much!

My Own Worst Enemy

2012-01-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

A blog I read started the series "Making Friends as a Grown Woman". It's like this series was written for me. (Post 1. Post 2. Post 3. Post 4. Post 5. Post 6. Post 7. Post 8.)

I've tried for days now to piece together what I want to say. I just can't figure out how to say it. This is a very close to home subject for me. I suck at making friends. I suck at keeping friends. I want and need friends but I take the path of least resistance when it comes to friends, and that usually means I don't have very many. Because of that I appreciate those in my life who make an effort. Who force me to be social. Who check on me when I don't check on them. Who show me how to be a better friend.

I am my own worst enemy. I'm fairly shy unless I'm with people I know. I hate making small talk for the sake of making small talk. I can be blunt and am often mislabeled as negative and unhappy because I don't like to deal with drama and I try to be as realistic about situations as possible. I don't focus on the negative, but I don't pretend things are ok when they aren't. These traits often make me seem unapproachable and impolite. I also tend to not trust girls because of too many years of Mean Girls-esque shenanigans going on in my life. (Seriously, the 3 way phone call thing in Mean Girls totally happened to me once. To this day I'm still paranoid on the phone.) I know they are things I need to work on.

I've read and re-read certain posts. There were some things that definitely spoke to me. I'm going to try and make a valid effort to be better about making AND keeping friends. It was nice to know I'm not alone on this whole friends thing.

CTR 4

2012-01-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Scarlett is now a CTR 4. Wow. How'd she get so big?!

Last year, primary was tough for Scarlett. Really tough. I know our life situation didn't help her, but with my pregnancy and all that came with that, we couldn't really avoid it. It all came to a head toward the end of the year when we were told she had to get her act together or she couldn't stay in class. (She has a problem with crying when we leave. Then towards the end of church she gets tired and starts crying for us again. What we were told was she'd only be given a few minutes to calm down and then she'd be brought to us. I think that teaches her that if she cries she gets to leave. But whatever. I'm just the mom.) Well, these sick winter months haven't helped and she's missed a lot of this year already. (Yes, only 4 Sundays in.) Plus, we have 9am church. I can get to work by 9am but I cannot make it to 9am church on time. (I can't explain that so don't ask.)

We tried to prepare her and told her that she got to go to a new big girl class this year. We told her that some of her friends from her class last year would be there, but that she'd also get to make new friends. We tried to make it sound great without building it up too much. We hate that primary is such a hard thing for her. She loves to go to church, and asks for it all the time during the week, and then as soon as Sacrament is over she doesn't want anything to do with church. I'm hoping this year will be an easier transition for her, but I know we still have our work cut out for us. She did pretty good today. She only threw a fit when Tyson dropped her off because we wouldn't let her take a toy to class. When I picked her up she was fine and they said she did great. (I think it helps that a lot of the same kids are in her class again, and she has the same teachers. I'm not sure what that's about, but I think it's good for her.)

I hope that a little more patience is doled out to her this year, and maybe a little more understanding too. (I'd like a little of that understanding given to me too.) I'm going to make a concerted effort to get to know her teachers and have Scarlett get to know them better too. (And the kids in the class and their parents.) I want her to have a positive view of church. The harsh reality is that in order for her to have a positive view of church I need to get over my negative feelings about church. (Not the church, but our ward.) I need to show her I like church. It seems we all have some things to work on this year at church. (It's not that I don't like my ward, because I do. It's just a very hard ward to be in. I don't stay home like a lot of the moms so I don't know a lot of people because I miss out on playgroups, etc. Our ward is also very transient which makes building friendships hard. It's not our ward's fault, but it easy to feel isolated and alone when we don't fit the so called mold so many in the ward do.) I'm glad that Scarlett had a good first day this year and I hope it continues.

Go Ice Skating: Fail

2012-01-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

Scarlett has been asking to go ice skating since her birthday. She got a Pinkalicious book that is about ice skating and has been obsessed. On our way there she was telling us all the things she needed to do, but most importantly she needed to balance. She was sure that ice skating would be the best thing ever.

She could not wait to get her skates on!

She was so good about balancing and could walk so well in them.

Here we are headed to the ice.

And this pretty much sums up our whole experience.

I'm not the best skater, but I figured we'd be fine. Scarlett was less sure once we got on the ice. She wanted one of the skate aides, and even though we got there right after a public session started, we were there too late to get one. I tried helping her away from the wall but she lost her footing and almost fell and she was over it. She wanted a skate aide or she wasn't going to skate.

So we waited to see if one would become available. Ollie was so patient during all this. He just sat and played and yelled and had a good time in his car seat.

We waited long enough that the zamboni came out to clean the ice. We thought that maybe while waiting for the zamboni some kids would get restless and leave and we'd get a skate aide, but that didn't happen.

Since we weren't on the ice for more than a couple minutes, Tyson went and got vouchers for us to come back another time. They told us the best thing to do is be there waiting before a public session opens so we can get one right away. So we'll try that.

So even though it was kind of a bust, it was still fun. Scarlett had a fun time wearing the skates and was great at balancing. I think once she gets used to being on the ice she'll be fine. We'll see how it goes next time.

29 and Feeling Fine!

2012-01-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't been 29 long and I'm already bored of that saying. haha To celebrate the last year of my twenties we didn't do anything big or grand. Birthdays aren't a big thing around here, except for the kids. I was treated to lunch at Kneader's from my work friends. We also had cheesecake after. Then that night Tyson, the kids and I went to dinner at my in-law's. (And Matt, Emily and their kids were there too, which was nice.) My mother-in-law made chicken enchiladas, always a favorite, and cheesecake. (You can never have cheesecake too many times in one day.)

I don't think my wish will come true because I couldn't blow out the ONE candle! Ha! Ollie was on my lap and I couldn't take a deep breath or bend over enough to get near the candle. It was pretty funny.

The only picture of me from my birthday. Me and Ollie boy.

It was fun to receive texts, calls, emails and Facebook notes all day. I even got a couple cards in the mail which was also nice. Thank you everyone who made me feel loved on my birthday!

Scarlett's Acting Debut

2012-01-19T14:38:00.001-07:00

Tyson's company needed a kid for some B roll on a video they were doing. Tyson suggested they use Scarlett and submitted a picture of her for consideration. She was chosen from 3 kids to be in the video!

The night before filming we told her that she was going to go to work with Daddy and that she was going to be on camera. We told her the gist of what she'd be doing and that she had to listen to daddy and be good. Filming was supposed to take less than an hour so we hoped she'd be fine for that long. Tyson and I were a little nervous for how well she'd listen because of her previous defiance at dance and gymnastics. So, to sweeten the deal for her, we told her that if she listened to daddy, did what they asked her to, and didn't cry or whine, we would take her to buy her a new princess. (I am NOT above bribing my child!)

We got her up the morning of the video and I bribed her to let me curl her hair with chocolate milk and a chocolate doughnut. We again went over the rules and she promised that she'd behave because she wanted a princess. Tys took her and Ollie to work (we thought she'd do better if he was her audience. She'll do anything for that kid.) Tys texted me when it was over and said she did great! She listened, did what she was supposed to and hit all her marks. Pretty good for her first time! One of Tyson's co-workers gave her a $1 bill for her work and told her it was a $100 bill. Luckily she has no concept of money, she was just glad she was paid.

Here is a screen shot from the video.

(I'm not sure if I can link to the entire video. If I can I will add it later.)

We were good on our promise and I took her to pick out a new princess. She picked a new Cinderella doll to add to her collection.

I'm so glad she did this! Even though we had to bribe her, I think it taught her a valuable lesson. When she listens and is good there are rewards. Plus, she earned money for her work. Now we just have to make sure these lessons stick. Who knows? Maybe she'll be in more videos for Tyson's work.

Happy Boy!

2012-01-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

My happy boy is back! This makes ME so happy! After a rough couple weeks Ollie is back to his usual happy self. He's laughing, playing and excited by things again.

And here's a little video of him giggling. He is SO ticklish under his neck! Cracks me up.

Now we just need to get him to put back on the pound he lost and get that boy crawling!

March for Babies, 2012

2012-01-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

It is once again the time of year when I start petitioning for donations for the March of Dimes and our March for Babies walk.

We have participated two out of the last three years. Last year we were signed up, but the day of the walk I was in the hospital having just delivered Ollie the day before. (Which kind of worked out nicely since it snowed on the 30th and I didn't really want to do the walk in snow 36 weeks pregnant. I'm selfish and lazy that way.)

This year the Utah County walk is Saturday, May 19 at 10 am at Seven Peaks in Provo. (There is also a Salt Lake County walk on Saturday, May 5 at 10am at This is the Place park.) We are signed up to walk and I am once again a team leader. If you want to walk and join our team, let me know and I can add you to it. Information about other walks across the country can be found HERE.

We are once again asking for minimum donations of $2.12. Now that Ollie is here you can make a donation in honor of his birth weight of $5.09. Or you can make a donation in any amount you choose. Honestly, any amount is appreciated. Donation information is to the right in the side bar.

When I embarked on the path to motherhood I never thought I'd be the mom of a preemie, let alone two. I am so grateful for the research done by the March of Dimes and similar organizations. I know that my babies have benefited from this research. Funding for this research is crucial and necessary. The fight against premature births is far from over. Please help me support a cause very near and dear to me.

Tyson's Holiday Work Party

2012-01-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Tyson's work had their holiday party this past weekend. It was kind of nice not to worry about having conflicting obligations with all the busyness that comes in December. It was a semi-formal event held at the Provo Library. We had a delicious dinner of prime rib and lots of sides and our choice of dessert.

It was fun to get gussied up for a night out with Tyson.

The real entertainment of the evening was comedian/hypnotist Johnny B. I decided to step out of my comfort zone (way out!) and volunteer to be part of the show. There were nine of us that volunteered. When we started Johnny said "There are three types of people who can't be hypnotized. Babies because they don't speak English. Drunk people because they don't speak English. And really really stupid people because they don't speak English either!" He also said that some people are really susceptible to hypnotism and those that are tend to be really creative and have an active imagination.

Well, unfortunately for me I am really stupid, not creative and have no imagination because the hypnotism did not work on me. I tried really hard to clear my mind, relax and focus so that I could be hypnotized, but it just didn't work. I knew it would be a long shot just because I have such a hard time with relaxing and clearing my mind. Tyson said he knew I'd have a hard time too but he was glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to try it. I'm just too uptight to be hypnotized.

It was really fun to be in the audience though. A couple of guys that Tyson knows really well and works with were up there and they were the stars of the show. I was laughing so hard I was crying at many parts of the show. There was a dance competition, a cheer competition, fighter jet flying, driving a car, and even an alien baby (pretend) delivery. Tyson and the guys he works with are going to try and edit a best of video and I can't wait to see it. It was hilarious.

Such a fun date night. Many thanks to my parents for babysitting so we could go out!

The Mother of All Sicknesses

2012-01-08T22:16:00.001-07:00

A couple days after Christmas, both Scarlett and Ollie started showing signs they were getting sick. Their voices were hoarse and they coughed a lot. A couple days later it was a full on cough with runny noses and fevers. I called their pediatrician and was told it was most likely croup and would pass. I was told to keep him hydrated and have him sleep with a humidifier. We tried everything possible to keep him comfortable and to get him re-acquainted with our old pal Sleep.We tried the car seat.

We tried the stroller.

And many many times we tried me.

We even tried baths to soothe and calm him.

By New Year's Ollie sounded worse not better so we went to Urgent Care.

Both of them were diagnosed with croup, and again we were told it would just have to pass.

Poor Scarlett also had to have her ear irrigated. It was disgusting, but she said her ear felt better after.

A few days later, Ollie started showing signs of an ear infection. One middle of the night trip to the pharmacy later, and he was on amoxicillin.

After 24 hours on the amox, poor Ollie broke out in a rash. Back to urgent care we went.

We were told it wasn't an allergic reaction, most likely a drug reaction. His antibiotic was switched after it was confirmed his ear was still infected. The doctor didn't really think it was necessary to switch antibiotics but did anyway.

And through all of this, Ollie also has had his FOUR top teeth trying to make their way in. He has been absolutely miserable for two weeks. The omnicef seems to be working better, along with a higher dose of ibuprofen. We're really hoping this does the trick and he'll be back to normal. I really miss my sleep! But more than that I miss my happy little guy. We're also hoping we've paid our dues this winter and this isn't a preview of what's to come. Sleep, baby sleep! Get that sickness out of here!

Gym-o-phobe No More!

2012-01-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

I finally started using my gym membership. It took me well over a month to actually make it into the gym after I signed up. The first time I went was because I got a reminder to pick up my card so I could actually use the gym. I went for the first time a couple days after that. It has been slow going as I get used to my body's limitations and figure out when and where I can really push it. After pushing myself one night I felt the effects two days later. That was what I call "a good hurt". That solidified that what I was doing was working and it felt good.

Going to the gym is hard for me. Justifying the time is hard. I have so little time with my family because I work that going to the gym feels so selfish and vain. But now I can feel how it's helping me and that my clothes are fitting a little better. It feels nice. I'm never going to run races or be a gym rat, but I have found that the quiet time to myself on the machines has been good for me. I'm finding that I'm prioritizing my time better to make going to the gym possible and that the time I am spending with my family in the evenings is better used. So far it has been a win for everyone.

I don't have a particular weight goal in mind. That would drive me absolutely crazy and be more of a discouragement than anything else. My goal is to lose the baby belly, get to a running time/length I'm comfortable with, and be more comfortable in my own body. It's going to take time and I'm going to keep going. I may not always be consistent, and I surely wont' be the best, but I am going to keep going.

More Comparisons

2012-01-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

While we're comparing, I thought I'd compare Scarlett and Ollie as babies now that he has actually developed into his look a little more. I've had people tell me that Ollie looks like me, like Tyson, like a nephew and like a brother. I mean, a brother of mine. Not a brotha. You know. Moving on. I have a digital photo frame at work and sometimes pictures of Scarlett will pop up and I see so much of Ollie in Scarlett. Then I see pictures of him and I think he look so different from her. It's interesting to me how they can look alike but still have such distinct, different looks.

Less than one month

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

And here's one more for fun. Scarlett, me and Oliver.

One thing is certain, I sure have cute babies!

New Year, Same Ole Stuff

2012-01-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

We rarely have plans for New Year's Eve, and this year was no different. Usually we plan a quiet night in and celebrate, but this year we were dealing with two sick kids so even the celebrating was even more low key than normal.

Scarlett and I did wear our party hats.

We ate shrimp cocktail, chips and guacamole, but never made it around to opening the Martinelli's. Scarlett even ate her first shrimp and said she really liked it. (Notice she has a couple of costume changes.)

Ollie tried to sleep off his sickness.

But when he was awake, he sure liked seeing that cute baby looking back at him on the screen.

He liked lounging on mom even more.

Scarlett learned to play Angry Birds and how to fully navigate the Netflix site on her own.

And then we all fell asleep before midnight. But we were woken up at midnight by a scared Ollie who heard the fireworks and didn't like them. So we did ring in the New Year with our celebrating neighbors. Thank you for those lovely fireworks that woke my sick child from a much needed sleep.

New Year's day we spent some time at urgent care. Ollie and Scarlett were both sounding worse rather than better, and I was afraid it was turning into something else. Poor Ollie hasn't been eating well and lost some weight.

We were in the room we were in when Scarlett got the bead removed from her nose and she remembered this game.

Both were diagnosed with croup and Scarlett had to have her ear irrigated. That was pretty disgusting but she was really fascinated by what came out. No antibiotics were given, just the advice to keep them hydrated, have them sleep with a humidifier and let them sleep. The doctor said they were on their way to being over it, it just sounded worse as it all cleared up. I'm hoping she's right because I am so over these sleepless nights, and sick kids. Ollie is miserable and won't be comforted. It is no fun to see my happy baby like this.

Our day off on Monday was spent in the house trying to recover. We cleaned, took down the Christmas decorations and tried to remain sane. It wasn't a glamorous, fun holiday weekend, but hopefully our reclusiveness and rest paid off and everyone is on the mend.

Happy New Year! Hope yours was more fun-filled than ours!

It is Winter, right?

2012-01-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

This was December 30, 2010.

This was January 6, 2011.

This is my view from work today. Usually this would be covered in ice and snow.

Now, I'm not complaining because I'm not a huge fan of the snow. It has been nice to enjoy some mild weather lately. In fact, I've worn my coat maybe twice, and one of those times was to Temple Square. I am enjoying not bundling up every morning and not worrying about ice on the car every morning. What I am worried about is if this means that it's going to snow in June or July. I don't mind the Winter as long as it doesn't invade the Summer months.

Snowing in late May was crazy enough for me. (May 24, 2010)

As much as I'm enjoying the snow not being here, I wish it would show up so I don't have to worry about a Summer snow storm.

Project Life 2012

2012-01-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am once again doing Project Life in 2012. I am still using the picture a day approach because I have really enjoyed that these last 3 years. (And I've still only missed 1 picture! And that was in the first year.) There is so much inspiration out there, and so many people who have amazing albums. Sometimes I feel like my album is lacking because mine is so plain and basic. I have to keep reminding myself that I am capturing memories, mementos and our life right now, and that is what is important. The whole point of Project Life is to capture your life SIMPLY. Some people have the time and talent to make their albums amazing. I am not one of those people. I am working to accept that. (Don't get me wrong. I still love my albums and am so glad that I have them. I just wish I had more time and talent to add a little extra oomph to them. Maybe someday.) (Don't mind all my crappy cell phone pictures. Bad lighting in our house and lack of motivation on my part to edit and/or take better pictures means this is all there is.)

Anyway, I wanted to show my album and its contents for the year. This year I chose the Clementine Edition. I went back and forth on getting the Clementine binder or waiting for the signature series to come out, but I (obviously) eventually decided on the Clementine binder. My main reason was I wanted to have the "complete" set from each edition. Plus, all the other years' binders are colorful so I wanted this one to be that way too.

The first thing I do when I open my stuff is the "title" page and the "conclusion" page. (Well, technically the first thing I do is put in all the photo pages.) I typically use their suggested layout and all of their cards. It's simpler this way.

This is the title page. On the card in the upper right I'll write something, just not sure what yet, and on the bottom right card I will too. Usually it's something like "Photos and Memories of the Maughan Family by the Maughan Family".

This is the end page. I don't usually write anything here.

Since the big pack of photo pages came with so many pages (60!), more than enough for a year, I decided to do something different this year. Rather than start off with the first week right after the title page I'm putting in a picture of each of us and some stats about each of us at the start of the year. I also designed a similar page at the conclusion of the album so we'll have new pictures at the end of the year and our new stats too.

I'm just missing pictures of Tyson and I separately for these pages as well as things to put on our cards. I'm thinking goals or something. I know I don't want my weight on the card.

This is Scarlett and Ollie's page. (Though one of our pictures will be here too.) On their stat cards I wrote their age, height, weight, clothing size, and shoe size. I wrote a couple other things about Ollie since he's so little, like how many teeth he has and his latest milestone (sitting). The page at the conclusion of album for the end of year stats is laid out the same way.

The next thing I do (which I realize highlights the OCD in me) is lay out all the "title" cards and then decide on an order and pick up one from each pile to create a new pile until they're all gone. I then label them with the dates for each week. Then I put them in the slots so that two weeks in a row don't have the same card.

I do the same for the "filler" card for each week. However (again revealing my OCD), I move the filler card over one slot each new week, that way no two weeks in a row have the same filler card or the card in the same slot.

Finally I lay out all the journaling cards and follow the same method as described before, making sure no two days have the same cards in a row.

Then I go through and put all the day of the week stickers on the photo pages.

The core kit also comes with number and arrow stickers but I've never used them in any of my albums.

My album is all done!

Usually the album would also have monthly dividers, but they're all sold out right now so I have to wait for them to re-stock. When I add the monthly dividers I also usually add in an extra 8 1/2 x 11 page protector for the things I want to keep from each month. I usually have more than one for the end of year. I add our family calendar, People's "best of" issue and holiday cards to one outside of the normal one for December.

This year I also bought a couple different sets of photo pages to add in throughout the year. There are sometimes events that I want to include more than one picture, or sometimes where a few things happen on one day and things get left out. Now I'll be able to include a whole page for special events or dedicate an entire sheet at the end of the month to the extra "stuff" I want to include.

I'm hoping to update my Project Life Blog with my page layouts and other ideas I come up with to include in my album. I'm usually pretty good about updating that blog and I'm hoping that by posting my layouts I'll be motivated to stay on top of my journaling. (That has never been easy for me in the years I've been doing this.) I also have a board on Pinterest dedicated entirely to Project Life to help keep track of ideas I find online. I won't post each week's layout because they're all basically the same. I plan on only highlighting the things I do with the album that are outside the norm.

I also keep a composition book designated solely to Project Life. I have all the days/dates filled in and as I go throughout the week I make a note of which picture is used each day and any other notes I want to remember about specific dates and events. It really helps me when I go to do the journaling.

My last composition book that I started lasted the first three years of me doing Project Life. It is a well traveled little book! I actually thought I lost it for awhile and I was really sad. It showed up one day behind the couch. I was SO happy to find it!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again and again and again - I love Project Life. Love! I really believe that anyone can make it work for them, whether they use the picture a day format or any other way they want to. It is that flexible and easy. Becky and her products are about capturing your memories in a way that works for you. At its core it's about simplicity. I love this! As someone who loves capturing memories but never knew what to do with them once I had them, this completely appealed to me. I've stuck with it because it really is that simple. I am so happy with my albums and I am so happy with the products. If you've ever thought about doing it, just go ahead and do it. You won't regret it. (If you'd rather do digital, that's available too.)

****
I swear I don't get paid to write these posts. I wish Becky did pay me in product to write these, but I am really am just that big a fan.

2012 Goals

2012-01-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

I don't usually make resolutions. Last year I decided my word of the year would be learn. I think I did pretty well with that. I'm not doing a word for this year, but there are some things I'd like to accomplish this year.

-Finish Ollie's baby quilt before his 1st birthday
-Lose all the extra baby weight by Ollie's 1st birthday
-Finish my Grandma's quilt by what would have been her 100th birthday, August 17.
-Take a family trip to Disneyland.
-Finish Ollie's baby book.
-Work on my Project Life album more consistently.

And of course there are the ever present goals of trying to find the balance between work, home, church and everything else; read more books; tryi to purge the clutter from our home; try to find a budget that sticks; try to pay off debt; and generally just try to live a good, balanced life. I'm not gonna lie, it is not as easy as some make it seem. But, I am very blessed and very grateful and I know I'm a work in progress. Some days require more work than others but hopefully I'm actually moving forward and not backward. I'm hoping to have a productive 2012.

Goodbye, 2011!

2011-12-31T08:06:00.000-07:00

2011 was an interesting year for our family. Things started out tough and stayed that way for quite a while, but things eventually took a turn for the better. The highlight of the year was, of course, Ollie’s birth. He has been such a perfect addition to our family. Other highlights include both Tyson and I getting full-time jobs, paying off a car, small trips to visit family and lots of fun in our own state.

Here is my annual list of highlights and fun:

January

-Scarlett started Primary as a Sunbeam.

-We found out I was pregnant with a BOY and then I hit the 20 week mark of pregnancy.

-Our apartment sprung a leak and had to be fixed. (And honestly still isn't fixed correctly nearly a year later. The only joy in renting is I don't have to financially deal with all the crap that goes wrong.)

February

-Random fun including Tyson working at Sundance and meeting Robert Redford.

-Hit 24 weeks pregnant.

-Scarlett and I started having regular Saturday dates while Tyson was at work.

-I spilled (cold) bacon grease on Scarlett's head. (This was just one of many moments during pregnancy when Tyson questioned my sanity. I didn't blog about the time I tried to pull a casserole dish out of the oven WITHOUT oven mitts, or the other times I almost burned off my fingerprints, which were too numerous to admit. I don't even know if I have traceable fingerprints anymore.)

-House-sat for the in-law's where Scarlett and Tyson made a huge snowman.

-Hit 27 weeks pregnant and boy was I bigger than I was with Scarlett!

March

-The unofficial 5th member of our family, Hugsy, spent a night away from Scarlett at the tire place. I definitely lost more sleep than Scarlett did over that ordeal.

-I hit the 28 week mark and Ollie thought it was a good idea to try and make an early escape. And so began my 8 week journey of bed rest. (I'm not going to lie. Bed rest was physically easy (comparatively), but emotionally hard. It was the loneliest and most isolating thing I have ever experienced. Those who checked up on me, texted, and called will never know how much those small gestures meant to me.)

-Scarlett was officially potty trained!

-Random updates including freeing myself from bed rest for short periods of time.

-My Grandma Hansom passed away. I was so bummed I couldn't go home for her funeral. I was happy that my mom sent me a program and pleasantly surprised to find a $2 bill in there too - a little reminder from the aunts and uncles of something grandma and grandpa used to always do for us at Christmas and our birthdays. Her passing was such a bitter-sweet thing. She lived to be 98 and had a full life. I know she's happy to be with Grandpa, and even though we miss her greatly, we know she's happier and pain free.
-Made a book of The Family: A Proclamation to the World using pictures of our family.
-Had a 3rd ultrasound at 30 weeks 3 days, the most I had ever been pregnant.

April
-Random updates on Scarlett. Her last month as an only child.
-My last pregnancy picture was taken at about 34 weeks. That was also my last pregnancy update before Ollie came.
-Tyson traveled to Southern California for Brittany's wedding. I'm so glad he was able to be there for that.
-We celebrated Easter for the last time as a family of three.
-A look back at my pregnancy in belly pictures.
-Oliver Deakins made his debut April 29, 2011. I loved writing out his birth story. (Also? I was kind of oddly stoked that he was born the same day as the Royal Wedding and I could watch all the coverage while in the hospital since we don't have TV at home.)

May
-Oliver went to the NICU after birth. He made some great progress in just a few short days, but still had to stay in the NICU for 15 days.
-Ollie had issues with oxygen and I had issues with milk. It was not a fun time for either of us.
-Ollie turned 1 week old.
-More time and growth in the NICU, but definitely progress too.
-Ollie turned 2 weeks old.
-We celebrated Mother's Day a week late when Ollie was released from the NICU.
-Quietly celebrated 6 years of marriage. We went and saw Bridesmaids and laughed until we cried.
-Ollie celebrated one week at home, and our family of 4 never felt so complete.
-Winter finally turned to Spring and Scarlett loved all her time outside.
-Ollie had a weight check and all looked good.
-Ollie turned 1 month old.

June
-The weather finally turned Summer-ish and we were able to start spending our days outside.
-We visited the new Highland Splash Pad to cool off.
-Dance class didn't go very well, so I thought maybe a tumbling class would be better to help her get her energy out. It only went mildly better.
-We took a Summer drive through the Alpine Loop.
-Ollie turned 2 months old and had his 2 month appointment which went great.

July
-We celebrated the 4th of July weekend and had a great time with my sister and family who were in town.
-Tyson blessed Ollie and it went perfectly.
-I took a spontaneous 10 day trip to Arizona with Scarlett and Ollie. I hate visiting in the Summer, but it was great to be with family and introduce Ollie to everyone.
-Tyson turned 33.
-Ollie turned 3 months old.
-We visited the Parade of Homes UP! house. It was SO cool and Scarlett loved it. Who am I kidding?! I loved it!

August
-We visited the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point as part of $2 Tuesdays.
-Soaking up the Summer with a lot of different activities.
-Visited Farm Country for $2 Tuesdays.
-We visited the Museum of Ancient Life for $2 Tuesdays.
-We visited the Hogle Zoo and the Zoorassic exhibit.
-Ollie turned 4 months old.
-I started working full-time in July and Tyson started working full-time in August. Luckily we found an amazing daycare we love and all has been smooth. Just another huge blessing in our lives.

September
-We paid off one of our cars! That is such an amazing burden to be free of.
-We visited Bridal Veil Falls. My first time there even though it is literally minutes from our house.
-Celebrated Labor Day by tubing the Provo River, taking Ollie to urgent care (no ear infection) and going out to dinner and a movie. A super busy day for a holiday.
-Ollie had his 4 month check-up.
-Celebrated our 5th sealing anniversary.
-The 10th anniversary of 9/11 occurred. Parts of that day still seem like yesterday.
-Had our first "emergency" visit to urgent care. Scarlett stuck a bead up her nose. Luckily it came out and she was fine. I'm hoping we don't have to do that again anytime soon. Or ever.
-We spent the weekend in Loa. We went to Tyson's cousin's wedding and also visited Capitol Reef. It was a fun weekend away.
-Tyson was working in Park City and I got to spend a night with him at The Canyons. It was SO nice to be alone for the night and to stay in such a nice place for free. We get nice perks sometimes!
-In order for Scarlett to stay in daycare she had to get an immunization she was missing. It turned into such a stupid ordeal and was finally settled way later than it should have been.
-I, once again, profess my love for Project Life. If after my talking about it you still haven't caught the bug, I am not doing a good enough job.
-Took our annual Fall drive through the Alpine Loop. Fall in Utah is so beautiful. Short-lived, but very beautiful.
-Ollie tried his first solid food - bananas! Took him a bit to get it, but he loved them. This boy is going to be a good eater.
-Ollie turned 5 months old.

October
-Though this wasn't the first time he laughed, this was his first little giggle fest. I can't get enough of this video.
-We took our annual jaunt to Gardner Village to see the witches.
-I went with some friends to a late night concert in Park City for the filming of a trashy reality show we all watch.
-We welcomed Fall with some fun activities.
-We visited Hee Haw Farms to get us in the mood for Fall and Halloween activities.
-We visited the Homestead Scarecrow Festival in Midway. Festival might be an overstatement, but it was fun to visit.
-Tyson went to South Korea for work and added another stamp to his passport.
-Compared Ollie's smaller self to his 6 month self.

-Ollie turned 6 months old.
-Had some Halloween festivities. First our ward party. Carved some pumpkins. Then spent Halloween with the Maughans.

November
-Scarlett turned 4 years old! I posted her annual birthday post and a new thing - a birthday interview.
-Ollie had his 6 month check-up.
-Got to see the play My Fair Lady with my mom. For free! Love the blogging world.
-Decided to give myself bangs which prompted an unplanned haircut, which then prompted a (much needed) hair coloring.
-Celebrated Scarlett's birthday with a (not so) penguin party.
-Scarlett had her 4 year check-up.
-Took Scarlett to see Disney on Ice as her birthday present.
-Scarlett participated in her first Primary Program.
-Celebrated Thanksgiving with the Maughans.
-We had family pictures taken. Scarlett did great. Ollie, not so much.
-Oliver turned 7 months old.

-Visited the lights at Temple Square early to beat the cold.
-Wrote my 30 Days of Thanksgiving post.

December
-Started a countdown to Christmas with Scarlett of building Santa's beard.
-Went to The Shops at Riverwoods to see their lights.
-Took the kids to get their annual Santa picture.
-Posed the kids in their matching Christmas jammies.
-Had Fakesgiving, a late Thanksgiving celebration with leftovers of our very own! (Though I got the stomach flu the next day and Thanksgiving will never be the same. No more turkey for me.)
-Sent out our Christmas card. I "designed" it this year, and by that, I mean I added text to the picture. Look at me go!
-Went to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork. Warm, festive fun!
-Saw Guns N' Roses live in concert! Honestly a dream come true for me. Seeing November Rain performed live? Check!
-Finally got around to decorating for the holidays. It was late as usual. One year we'll do it before the end of the month.
-We kept our tradition of a new ornament each year alive and both Scarlett and Ollie got ornaments this year. We also added some homemade ones from daycare and church.
-Had some holiday fun with Scarlett and drove around looking at Christmas lights. Her outfit was entertainment enough for me.
-Did my annual Christmas pajamas comparison, and included Ollie in the tradition this year. We skipped pictures in front of the tree, but maybe we'll do them before we take it down.
-Spent Christmas Eve with the Maughans and had a great time. Kids acted out the Nativity. Tons of food to eat. Presents to open. It was a good day.
-Spent most of Christmas at home with a jaunt to the Maughan's for dinner. It was a nice relaxing Christmas at home.
-Scarlett tests out the waters on her new bike. She still has a ways to go, but once she got over her inital fears she loved it.
-Ollie turns 8 months old. I am not ready for my baby to be this big.
-We will likely spend a quiet New Year's Eve at home dealing with our sick kids.

And this is just a plug for my Project Life Blog. Lots of things make it there that never make it to this blog for one reason or another, and even though they aren't the big things that make it here, they're part of our life and worth documenting. I'm hoping next year to ramp up my posting over there and post more about my actual album. We'll see though. Time is usually in short supply around here.

2012 will bring the last year of my 20s. Most people dread turning 30, but 30 isn’t that big a deal to me. It’s just part of life. I don’t feel “old” and I have my kids to help keep me active for quite a while. Sometimes I think “Wow, 30.”, but I’ve never felt like I should freak out about it. (This makes me think of the Friends episode where Rachel turns 30 and they have the flashbacks to everyone else’s 30^th birthdays. I also think of Tim McGraw’s “My Next 30 Years”, except I don't need to drink less beer, Dr. Pepper maybe, but not beer.) 2012 will also be interesting because Ollie will turn one and Scarlett will turn five. That gap might prove to bring some interesting sibling behaviors. Scarlett will hopefully start pre-school, Tyson will hopefully make some good headway on his master’s, and hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun trips as a family (Disneyland, hopefully!). We are always excited for the hope of a new year and grateful for the blessings and lessons of the previous one. Happy New Year!

Scarlett Rides Her Bike!

2011-12-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Scarlett hasn't stopped talking about wanting a "bike with a baby (car seat)" since she saw it in the Target toy catalog months ago. She had previously talked about wanting a bike, but once she saw that bike that's the only one she wanted. When I saw it at Costco a few weeks after that I knew I had to get it. We had to hide it for almost two months so she wouldn't see it. The box was huge so it was not an easy task, but we did it!

Once Scarlett got her bike, she seemed sort of...meh about it. She loved the actual bike, but she wouldn't sit on it, didn't ask to take it outside, nothing. Monday I asked her if she wanted to taker her bike out for a ride and she said she couldn't. When I asked her why she said she didn't have "things for her knees" and that she'd crash and crack and her head open and bleed. (Seriously. She said that.) I told her that because Daddy put the training wheels on, she couldn't crash, she didn't need things for her knees, she had a helmet to protect her head, and that either Daddy or I would be right there with her on the bike to make sure she didn't crash.

Once we got her over her apprehension about crashing, and actually onto the bike she was fine. She still has to get the pedaling thing down, but once she mostly figured it out she loved it. She's been asking to take it out since then. It sucks that she got it now in such crappy weather, but I'm sure once spring comes and the sun is out longer, it will be such a fun thing for her.

8 Months Old

2011-12-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ollie is now 8 months old!

Ollie is now rolling back and forth and all over the place. He scoots around in an Army crawl occasionally, but I don't know that he knows that crawling is more efficient than rolling and getting stuck. He'll learn that soon enough I'm sure. Even though he rolls back and forth he gets stuck on his own arm quite frequently. It is funny how mad he gets but also kind of sad that he hasn't figured out what to do with that arm yet.

Dude suffered his first illness with a small bout of the stomach flu a couple weeks ago. We knew he was on the mend when he was mimicking us eating our dinner. I gave him a small spoonful of bananas to see how he'd react and he practically bit the spoon in half in his excitement. He devoured the whole container of baby food and was able to keep it down. That was a tough day for him (and us), but it was short-lived, thankfully.

He is one CRANKY dude when he's not feeling well. Scarlett was a tiny bit crankier than normal when she was teething, but not like this. Ollie is very vocal about his discomfort. I don't think we'll ever have the back and forth of wondering if/when he's sick like we did with Scarlett because Ollie will let us know, whereas Scarlett just sort of quietly dealt with her discomfort. He now has two bottom teeth and one top tooth on its way in, and we think the other top tooth isn't far behind. (We really hop they'll be in soon because I miss my sleep!)

Ollie LOVES to eat! Loves it! He loves oatmeal with a fruit mixed in and is over his love of vegetables. I do still give him them mixed into his oatmeal or rice, but he does prefer the fruit mixes. I know that his days on the bottle are numbered just because he wants to eat so badly. This is such foreign territory to me. Scarlett loved the bottle for far too long and was never interested in food. This is a welcome change.

I've tried giving him small samples of bread, goldfish, and graham crackers, and he acts like I'm trying to poison him. I don't know if it's a texture thing or what, but he always gags himself when I give him the tiniest piece. I'm going to try those teether biscuits (though I hate them!) because I think it will help him be open to eating things other than baby food.

Ollie has been better about sleeping lately, but still isn't quite making it through the night. He has a good schedule and does sleep for about a 7 hour stretch, so I can't complain too much. I just wish he didn't always wake at 11pm and 6 am, which is right after I've fallen asleep and right before I need to wake up. I know, I know. Sleep train him. Some day.

Ollie can sit on his own now. He made a lot of progress with sitting in just a few short days. It was amazing that at the beginning of our Christmas break he was sitting but still wobbling and by the end he was sitting for long periods of time. He's not rocking on all fours yet, but he does occasionally push himself up. We'll see how long he remains immobile.

He is still the happiest baby. He lights up when we come into the room and he laughs so easily. It is so fun to get him into a giggling fit. Scarlett loves to make silly faces at him and still thinks it's her number one job to make him laugh. It usually doesn't take much to make him laugh. Tyson does this silly growl that makes Ollie laugh every time. He is such a cute, happy baby.

I'm not sure if it's because Tyson (playfully) growls at him all the time or what, but when Ollie is really into a toy he growls at it. It is so funny. He does it the most when playing with the hackey sack or my old phone cover. He even does it to some of the stuffed toys he plays with. Such a funny thing to witness.

A few other random things about Ollie right now: he hates to be left alone in a room. If he's in the living room and we go to the kitchen he whines for us to come back. He's becoming very obvious about his preference for mama. He will go to Tyson and calm down for Tyson, but if I leave the room and he sees it he cries. (Tyson says I created another monster because that's how Scarlett still is.) He got an exersaucer for Christmas from Grammie and Papa and he's still getting used to it. He figured out the other day that he can move it with his feet (it's on wheels) and that surprised and delighted him. It makes it much easier for him to be in the kitchen with us but also so that one of us doesn't have to hold him. He is the king of cat naps. He takes 1 really good nap each day (about 2-3 hours), but his other two naps each day are about 30-45 minutes (one in the morning shortly after waking up and the other in the evening around dinnertime). We still don't know whether his eyes will stay the blue-ish color they are or turn hazel like the rest of us, and we still don't know what his hair will be. It's lighter than Scarlett's ever was. It's actually lighter than mine or Tyson's ever was too. I weighed him randomly the other day and he weighed 17 lbs. I measured him and he was 29 inches! He is getting so big. We are now on the hunt for a new car seat for Scarlett so we can switch Ollie to her Britax. I can't believe we're already at that stage.
Ollie is already 2/3 of the way to 1. It has gone by so fast. We love him so much and are so grateful he's in our family.

Christmas Day

2011-12-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

After our Christmas Eve fun with the Maughans, we brought our sleeping kids home. We quickly got to work playing Santa's Elves. Tys put together Scarlett's bike and I wrapped the other presents.

We put all the presents under the tree except the bike and it hid it under a blanket in the kitchen in case Scarlett came downstairs while we were still awake.

When Ollie woke up for one of his night feedings, Tyson put the bike under the tree in case we didn't wake up before Scarlett.

Scarlett was excited, but not as excited as I thought she'd be. Tyson says it's because she expected to get a bike and she got every single thing she asked for. (I wonder if that was a bad precendent to set?) I also think part of it is she takes awhile to wake up. (Just like me!)

This is the moment she saw her bike!

Ollie really didn't have a clue what was going on but liked the paper and the bows. When I pulled out my phone to take pictures he was very fascinated with the cute baby on the screen.

Scarlett showing Ollie his new train. (With her new gloves on.)

Scarlett on her bike.

After presents we ate breakfast of hootenanny and bacon and got ready for church. I loved that Christmas was on a Sunday this year. Church had a different feeling to it, a kind of sweeter reverence. Our Bishop was the only speaker and he gave a sweet message to our ward. It was a short Sacrament meeting, but beautiful.

After church while we were mingling, Scarlett and I took these pictures with my phone. I wanted a normal picture but she wanted silly, so we did both.

We headed back to Grammie's for Christmas dinner. It was a much simpler dinner than Christmas Eve, but just as delicous. There were just a few of there since most of the siblings were with their in-laws. We had ham, sweet potatoes, bread and plenty of leftover treats.

I tried to get a picture of Scarlett and Ollie in their Church clothes but that didn't go over very well. (Again.)

I was able to get a picture of Tyson with the kids. (Ollie didn't wear jeans to church, he had an accident and jeans were all I had in the diaper bag.)

Scarlett enjoyed watching a movie (Dumbo) when we weren't eating dinner.

It was a nice, relaxing Christmas.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve was spent with the Maughans. Tyson went out shooting with his brothers early Saturday morning.

I met him at his mom's later. While I was waiting for him to show up I tried to get a picture of the kids together. Scarlett wanted this blanket on her and I couldn't get both of them to look at the same time. This is definitely not a one person job anymore.

Once everyone finally arrived we played Bingo. Everyone got a present so that was fun.

After Bingo we had the traditional Maughan Christmas Eve dinner of clam chowder. We also tomato soup, salad, bread and fruit. The table was set so beautifully. Susan used her China, silver and crystal. It was a very beautiful and delicious meal!

Inside the favor across our plates was a popper, a crown and some little toys. Tyson got a pink crown that Scarlett wanted to wear.

This year we added a new event. Now that the oldest grandkids are old enough we had them act the Nativity story. Scarlett was an angel. She was one decked out angel!

Here are all the kids and Meagan before it started.

This was my favorite part of the day. I love this video. I don't think you really capture how funny some of it was unless you were there watching it live.

After the Nativity we opened presents. Scarlett got the Ariel with the purple swimsuit just like she wanted! She was so happy! Ollie got his present a few days earlier, an exersaucer. He's still getting used to it but likes it more each day.

Grammie got all the grandkids pajamas. All of the girls got matching horse pajamas and the boys had different ones. We tried to get a picture of all the grandkids in their jammies in front of the fireplace. It was kind of crazy. Scarlett was more worried about her Ariel doll than holding Ollie. Poor guy was not high on her priority list. I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to hold him since he weighs more than half of what she does. This was about the best that we got.

Then we tried one with Grammie and the grandkids.

I love my Ollie! He was such a trooper all day, and it was LONG one for him!

He was pretty worn out by the end of the night and was so tired he couldn't help but cry. Even then he's still super cute.

We didn't take a family picture, so I told Tyson I wanted one of me and him. This is what he gave me.

Luckily I checked and we got a better one. He's such a brat sometimes.

Here is the Maughan's mammoth tree this year. We weren't able to go with them on the tree hunt this year (family pictures), and I think Tyson was glad to enjoy the tree this year knowing he didn't have to help find it, haul it, and put it up.

We had a fun day filled with family, food and fun. It was a great way to celebrate out Savior's birth.

Christmas Lights

2011-12-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Friday Ollie got his flu booster shot. He was not a happy boy the rest of the day. He cat-napped most of the day and at bed time would not calm down enough to actually fall into a good sleep. I knew if we drove around he'd fall asleep and I'd be able to transfer him to his bed. Luckily my plan worked! He slept most of the time and Scarlett and I enjoyed our hot chocolate while driving around. (Tyson stayed home.) We played Michael Buble's new Christmas album (which we LOVE!) and had fun singing the songs. I especially loved hearing the versions Scarlett came up with.

When I told Scarlett where we going she added a few accessories to her pajamas. She definitely has a style all her own.

This was at the drive through getting hot chocolate. She was so excited!

We started near The Riverwoods.

And somehow we ended up by the Provo Temple.

I was worried we wouldn't get to drive around and see some lights so I'm glad we had the chance. It was so fun to hear Scarlett so excited in the back seat telling me all about the lights as if I couldn't see them. She was excited about every house we saw. Each was just as exciting as the last no matter how many or how few lights it had. It's things that that make me pause and try to enjoy things as she does. Christmastime with children is magical all over again.

Christmas Comparisons

2011-12-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

I've been comparing Scarlett's Christmas pajamas since her second Christmas. (Third Christmas here. Fourth Christmas here.) It's just something I like to do. My hope is to one day take all of her Christmas jammies (and other special outfits) and make a quilt for her. I'm planning on doing the same with Ollie.

These are all of Scarlett's jammies. She has two sets of holiday jammies this year. The pink penguin ones that look a lot like last year's are ones we gave her for her birthday. She wanted Ollie to have penguin jammies too but they only came in 12 month size and I wasn't sure if they'd fit him for Christmas (they do and are just barely too big), so we also bought the snowman ones which are 9 month for him, but had to get a 3T for her which means the snowman ones barely fit her but her penguin ones which are 4T are too big. (I am so freaking high maintenance!) So they have two sets of "matching"(-ish) jammies.

Here are Ollie's. Obviously he doesn't have Christmas jammies to compare so his is a comparison to pajamas he wore when he was released from the NICU. My preemie boy is practically all caught up with other babies his age!

This is my favorite comparisons (of the many I do!). It shows how far my kids have come. Most parents marvel at the growth their child makes in their first years of life, but many take for granted the ease with which their children achieve that growth. Scarlett is still a high maintenance case for getting her to grow in terms of weight. I doubt she will ever be caught up with her peers in that regard. (She gets that (and quite a few other traits) from me.) Ollie's progress has been more steady and has occurred much easier than Scarlett's. We are grateful for the progress both of them have made. We are constantly reminded how lucky/blessed we are to come out of the NICU unscathed TWICE.

The Christmas season is always extra special to us because Christmas Eve is when Scarlett was released from the NICU four years ago. Now we have two preemies who have graduated the NICU. Ollie's time in the NICU was so different than Scarlett's, but there was one thing about both journeys that was the same. Both times we felt nothing but peace and comfort while our babies grew and strengthened. I know that it was because of the prayers offered on their behalf. Looking back nothing comforts me more, even now, than knowing that we never traveled those roads alone. Never. I know that all the tears I shed in worry, prayers I offered up for their safety, all of those were heard. I know the worry and joy I felt (and still feel) is known by my Savior. As we celebrate His birth I am so grateful to know that I am never alone or forgotten. In many (many!) ways my babies are a constant reminder of this.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

I love getting a new ornament for Scarlett each year that commemortates or epitomizes her that year. I love that we get to start that with Ollie this year. I wanted Scarlett to have a "big sister" ornament this year, but a lot of them are cheesy so I was glad when I found one that was more cute than cheesy. I liked it even more when I could personalize it and put her name and Oliver's on it. I wanted Ollie to have a rocking horse to match Scarlett's from her first Christmas, but I couldn't find one I liked, so I bought him one from the same place as Scarlett's. I was able to personalize his with his name and the year too. I got a notice that Ollie's had shipped but Scarlett's hadn't. Then a couple days later I got a notice they cancelled her order. Gah! I was able to find a similar ornament at another place but it was cutting it close to arrive in time for Christmas. Thankfully it did.

This is Ollie's ornament this year.

This is Scarlett's this year.

Of course Scarlett had to group all of her ornaments together and include Ollie's in that bunch too.

These are the ornaments Scarlett and Ollie made at daycare. Scarlett's has a penguin (of course!) and Ollie's has a snowman to match his jammies (according to Scarlett who helped make his).

And in Primary Scarlett made an ornament for us. It was so cute because the gift bag said "For: Mommy, Daddy & Bubba Oliver".

I think next year we'll start a kid tree and put all the sentimental ornaments and such on that one. It sure is fun getting new ornaments for the kids each year.

Holiday Decorating

2011-12-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

For one reason or another, holiday decorating always takes a back seat around our house. Usually it's because Tyson is traveling and I don't want to deal with it myself (though I usually ended up doing it myseld anyway), but this year we didn't have that excuse. It was just plain laziness this year. We did finally put everything up, which made Scarlett very happy. She was nervous that without a tree Santa couldn't come to our house. We assured her he would come and that we would get the tree up. Tyson was busy this weekend, so for the third year in a row I put the tree up myself.

We don't have tons of decorations because between my hoarding tendencies and Tyson's anti-clutter policy, we just don't have the space for it. We do have a Nativity that his mom gave us when we got married. One day I'd love to have a nice Nativity, but I've never seen one I've loved. Well, one I've loved that's in my budget.

We also have this cheap Nativity I bought to distract Scarlett from the tree. (Funny side story. Scarlett and my mom were playing with this Nativity and Scarlett said that Baby Jesus needed a blessing and a said a prayer for him. So weet!)

And this year we added a Little People Nativity. Scarlett LOVES it! And so does Ollie. I knew this would be a hit so when I saw a deal online I grabbed it quickly. I have a feeling this will be a favorite at our house for a very long time.

One other thing we added was this dinky Nutcracker. It isn't Christmas to me without a Nutcracker.

This Santa has been hanging on the wall since LAST Christmas. Somehow it got missed when we were putting away decorations and it just never got put away.

This doesn't really have to do with Christmas decorating, but sort of does. We've been in our place almost 2 years (which means it's probably about time we move because that's how we roll), and we've never really been happy with how our living room was set up. I don't remember exactly what prompted it, but one weekend we re-arranged the entire living room (and our bedroom). Part of that re-arranging was finally putting up these picture frames that I've had on the floor the entire time we've lived here in hopes they'd eventually make it to the wall. I wanted a gallery wall of sorts. (We originally had a family picture printed on canvas and that was going to be the center of it all, but we never got it put on the frame, and the picture is almost 2 years old now, so who knows what will happen with it.) I shared my vision with Tyson and he did all the hanging. I love the way it turned out!

We are all set for the holidays now and can't wait to celebrate Christmas!

Motivation

2011-12-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing motivates Ollie to scoot and roll around like a pack of wipes.

Guns N' Roses

2011-12-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

At about 5:30 Tuesday evening I got a call from my sister-in-law, Jill. She said she had claimed two tickets to Guns N' Roses in my name from a friend who works in radio and had extra tickets. She told me to call him right away to arrange to pick the tickets up. I immediately called the guy and arranged to pick up the tickets. I called Tyson and told him we were going, and I may have used an expletive to describe my extreme delight. Then I called my mom to arrange babysitting for the kids. It all worked out and we were able to make it to the (9PM!) show!

This was probably one of the more interesting concerts I've been to. When we got to the venue we had to be patted down as well as the usual empty pockets/bag search. First time I've been patted down outside the airport. (Actually, I don't even think I've been patted down there, just wanded.) I saw plenty of middle-aged folk rocking out harder than some of the young folk. I was quite worried about one obese man who I was certain was going to have a heart attack by the end of the show. There were plenty of middle-aged women wearing clothes I'm pretty sure they've had in their closet since the original Guns N' Roses toured. Saw plenty of people who were trying to hard to be in the "rock scene". I'm looking at you blonde bobsy twins in bandannas and dude in the Ed Hardy shirt who couldn't make the "rock on" sign with his fingers correctly at all the whole night. Then there was the dude with the meth teeth selling concert shirts. The dude who either couldn't handle the venue's two beer limit or somehow found a way around it. Dude took his shirt off and was dancing and falling down the stairs. Plenty of people were taking videos of him with their phones so I'm pretty sure he's on youtube right now. For a people watcher/judger like me, this was a great event.

As for the concert itself, it was great! Aside from the opening band who was on stage for far too long, it was an amazing concert. The opening band's sound was so blown out and loud you couldn't even hear the lyrics to their songs. The lead singer/guitarist did a 20 minute guitar solo that was fine for the first couple minutes, but by the end I wished I was closer so I could have thrown something at him to get him off the stage. It was beyond obnoxious by the time it ended. I was very happy when they left the stage. Death/speed metal is NOT my thing. If we were smart, we would have napped in the car since we knew GNR wouldn't take the stage until after 10:30p.

The big debate all day was what time Axl would actually take the stage. He's known to be a diva and is notorious for showing up late to concerts, walking off stage in the middle, or just cancelling altogether. The concert wasn't sold out and they even moved all the people who had bought tickets from the upper bowl to the lower bowl to fill in the gaps. Some were worried Axl wouldn't show up because it wasn't a full house. It did fill up by the time they took the stage though. We were pleasantly surprised when they took the stage at 11pm.

To say I was excited is an understatement. This is honestly a band I have wanted to see for practically all of my life but never thought I'd get to see. I know this version of the band isn't really Guns N' Roses (no Slash!), but it is as close as I'll ever get so I'll take it! They performed a mix of their old stuff and their "new" stuff from Chinese Democracy (out in 2008, so not exactly new, and a little late to be touring for, but whatev, it's new material). They played all the classics and even some of their older stuff that weren't huge but still known.

For free seats, they were actually pretty decent. They were far back, but we had a great view of the stage.

Throughout the show Axl highlighted each of the band members, and when he highlighted the pianist, I got overly excited thinking it was going to transform to November Rain. It didn't but was still fun to hear/see the pianist go crazy like that. A different piano was brought out, the rest of the band went away, and I knew November Rain was coming. Axl sat down, played The Wall by Pink Floyd and then an Elton John song, and then FINALLY he went into November Rain. It was AWESOME! I can seriously die a happy person knowing I've seen November Rain, one of my ALL TIME favorite songs, played live BY Axl Rose. Holy crap. It was just awesome. (Tys has a video of it, but youtube won't upload it right now. Lame.)

This was right before November Rain. I about peed from excitement.

We stayed for a couple more songs, but then they brought out the dude from the opening band and Tys and I looked at each other and we were done. It was after 1:30a and we had witnessed a pretty awesome show. I read later that the show went on until about 2am, they played 30 songs in total, which means it was about a 3 hour set. I do not use this term lightly, it was an EPIC show. I'm bummed we missed the final song, Paradise City, but I'm okay with it.

Axl is almost 50 (50!), and dude still has it. Sure his voice is older and aged a bit, but dude can still sing. He has such a crazy range and even though he's older and it's changed a little, it's still pretty amazing. He was running all over the stage and back and forth and I kept thinking "Dude is doing all that AND singing!" He even did his signature Axl dance a couple times and it made my heart happy.

I know that Tyson wasn't as into the show as me, but he was a good sport and took pictures and video for me since my phone died. Plus, he knows how excited I was about this and how happy it made me, so even though he was super tired from lack of sleep he powered through and had a fun time.

Thank you to Jill for procuring the tickets for me, to my mom for watching the babies, and to Tyson for being a good sport. I am going to live off this high of seeing GNR in person for a long time.

Spanish Fork Festival of Lights

2011-12-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

For family night this week we went out to dinner and then headed to the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights.

We tried out a Mexican food place by us, La Puente. It was ok as far as Utah Mexican food goes. Not a favorite, but it was fine.

Ollie would not leave the plates alone. I think he was hoping food would magically appear on one that he could eat.

Scarlett was being pill and wouldn't eat, so we were thisclose to cancelling the lights viewing portion of the evening, but she quit whining and ate her food. We did cancel the hot chocolate portion of the eveing for all the whining and fit throwing about eating her dinner.

When we got to where the lights were (after a slight detour because my navigator was engrossed in a Scrabble game on his phone), Scarlett was super excited. She even yelled "Merry Christmas!" out the window to the lady taking the money. When we pulled up there was a line of cars and Tyson said "It's not too late to turn around, you know?" And disaapoint Scarlett! Heck no! The line moved fast so it was fine.

Once we were in I unbuckled Scarlett from her chair and she was so excited to see everything. (We were driving 5mph in a closed place. She was buckled back in as soon as we saw the last lights.) It was almost annoying how excited and talkative she was. She kept pointing everything out to us. Tyson said to her "Scarlett, we see exactly what you do!" It was funny because it didn't phase her and she kept on pointing everything out.

It was fun to see lights, listen to Christmas music on the radio AND be warm in car while doing so. That is my kind of festive night.

Axl is currently in the same state as me!

2011-12-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Guns N' Roses is in town tonight. I'm not going. I'm kind of crying a little at missing this. If I told you I've wanted to see them practically my whole life, that would not be an exaggeration. To ease my pain, I will sit tonight in front of youtube watching GNR videos and make my own concert. And now I leave you with my favorite GNR song EVER. As a wee girl I even dreamed of Stephanie Seymore's wedding dress as my own one day. And if any of you are going to GNR, I hope you have a fabulous time and that Axl isn't too late to the stage. (Diva!) I'm seriously bummed I'm not going.

Christmas Card, 2011

2011-12-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures, 2011

2011-12-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

Getting Tyson to agree to family pictures is a battle every year. He hates paying for them because (these are his reasons, not mine): a) he has friends that can take them for free, b) HE could take them for free, and c) most people in Utah over-style and over-photoshop and Tyson's kind of a snob. (I added that last part, but he did say the first part.) We used Fotofly last year because I had a free session there. I scheduled with them again this year because a) it's cheap, b) I know what I'm getting, and c) I just want to get them done! Tyson finally agreed to Fotofly and off we went!

Last year Scarlett was the issue at our session. She was kind of shy and a little cranky. This year she was all about having her picture taken. In fact, she was bummed when it wasn't her turn. Talk about an about-face!

Poor little Ollie did not love having his picture taken. Our photographer was good, but I think he was a little off-putting for Ollie. Ollie kept looking back and forth at me and Tyson like, "Please! Save me! Why are you just standing there laughing?! Get me out of here!" Poor guy. We did get some cute pictures despite his lack of cooperation.

This is my ABSOLUTE favorite picture of Ollie ever. Blankies are his comfort and this is so him when he's sad - cuddling a blanket for comfort. I will never tire of this picture.

Getting shots of Scarlett and Ollie together was pretty near impossible. We tried though.

While I tried to get Ollie in a more agreeable disposition, Tyson and Scarlett were able to take some adorable pictures.

And these pictures are what you get when the photographer tells you to stand in a weird position and you're uncomfortable and can't fake it for the camera. Yay for awkward couples pictures! (Well, yay for awkward Stacey pictures. Tyson looks fine.)

We did get some cute family photos with which I'm really happy.

All in all, I would say Family Photo Session 2011 was a success.

Fakesgiving

2011-12-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

I figured that while my mom is here staying with us, I better learn how to make her stuffing and cook a turkey to go with it. She was in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, so we decided to hold Fakesgiving a week later.

Of course, like much of my life, I have awesome plans and something gets in the way. Sunday morning about 6am Tys and I were woken up by Ollie vomiting. At first I thought maybe he had coughed and gagged himself, but he threw up again about a half hour later. We entered our first bout of stomach flu as parents. Luckily for us (and Ollie) it was a very mild case. He mainly wanted to be held and sleep. I could tell he was feeling much better that evening because he was back to screeching and laughing and would yell anytime any of us ate anything. His stomach was on the mend because he was craving food! I fed him bananas and he gobbled them up and kept them down. Whew!

So my mom prepped the turkey and the stuffing while I tended to Ollie. I didn't get as much learning in as I would have liked but I was much more attentive than when I lived at home and had to help with turkey preparations. So who knows, maybe one of these years I'll be able to cook a turkey myself.

My mom makes a wet stuffing that goes inside the bird and is delicious! It's my favorite part of Thanksgiving (and Christmas because we had the same meal on Thanksgiving and Christmas growing up). I know some people are afraid of cooking stuffing in the bird because of salmonella, but I've had it for 20+ years and I've never gotten sick. My mom's cooked it for almost 40 years and she's never gotten sick and neither has anyone she's ever made it for. Stuffing in the bird is the only way to go! Lots of bread was torn up and set to dry and Scarlett was in heaven stealing a piece here and there from the pan.

As usual my mom made extra stuffing that would cook and be ready before the turkey was. Such a good snack while waiting for the turkey to finish cooking.

We made a bunch of mashed potatoes to go with dinner.

And finally the turkey was done!

And just like her mama, Scarlett loves turkey skin!

Tys carved it and we ate. As you can see by my plate, we were lacking a bunch of typical Thanksgiving foods. For me, it's all about the stuffing, turkey, potatoes and gravy, so I didn't make any of the other stuff since that's all I wanted.

For dessert I made my Grandma's typical holiday treat - popcorn balls! (Except I didn't make balls. I just made a big bowl of it.)

I don't think Fakesgiving will become a regular thing at our house, but it was fun to do this year.

Matching Holiday Jammies

2011-12-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

It was a little harder than I thought it was going to be finding coordinating jammies in both of their sizes. Or I should have bought them weeks ago when I actually thought of it. Oh well. We have them and they are super cute. I have a feeling Ollie is going to be much bigger than Scarlett.

Santa Picture

2011-12-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Originally I wasn't going to do a mall Santa picture. I was going to use the studio that did our family pictures, but as they were posting pictures of their shoots, I just wasn't feeling it, so I canceled my appointment. So to the mall we headed!

I knew that Ollie would be the wild card here and that he would either be fine or freak out. As we were waiting in line they started having issues with the computers so we got held up for a bit. When it was our turn the same thing happened so we were delayed while Ollie and Scarlett were on Santa's lap. She was fine and just kept talking to him, but Ollie was getting a little worried. I took him and held him until they got the problem fixed, but while I was holding him one of the workers tried to keep him entertained by being obnoxious and putting toys in his face, and that just set Ollie off. When the problem was fixed and I gave Ollie back to Santa he was pretty much over the whole thing. Luckily they were able to get an ok picture. I'm also glad he never went into full on freak out mode.

Before we went to see Santa, I asked Scarlett what she was going to ask Santa for. She told me "New bubbles for the bath. A bike with a baby. And an Ariel for the bath that has purple things in her boo-boos (boobs) and fins." I told her she couldn't tell Santa the purple boo-boos part and she said "But mom! Then he'll bring me the wrong one! She has to have a fish tail and the purple things on her boo-boos!" My mom overheard this conversation and told Scarlett to tell Santa that Ariel had a purple swimsuit on. Awkward Santa situation averted! Scarlett remembered that and told Santa exactly those three things when he asked what she wanted.

Visiting Santa wasn't a traumatic incident! That's a win!

The Riverwoods

2011-12-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

We've lived here for almost two years and have never been to The Riverwoods. We remedied that Friday night and walked around to see the lights and decorations.

You'll notice in these pictures that Scarlett's headband is ridiculous. I try to wisely choose my battles with her and how her hair looks isn't one I'm willing to fight lately. So when she says she knows how to put a headband on - great! One less thing I have to deal with.

We stopped by this fun toy store, Blickenstaff's. Scarlett was in heaven. She found a doll house and we could barley convince her to leave.

They had a gingerbread house contest between all the stores, restaurants, etc. at The Riverwoods. There were some pretty cool ones. (That place is not meant for kids though. I about had a heart attack a few times trying to keep Scarlett from touching them.)

We would have spent more time exploring, but Tyson discovered he'd left his phone somewhere and we had to back-track and try and find it. Then trek across and go to the main offices to meet a security guard who had Tyson's phone. So we did our exploring as we tried to find somewhere to eat.

Warming up by an outdoor fire pit. Scarlett loved that part.

They had a live musician singing and Scarlett and bunch of kids enjoyed dancing around to the Christmas songs as she sang.

We decided to eat at Marley's, a gourmet slider place. I don't see what all the hype is about sliders, but their onion rings were SO good. Once Scarlett saw we had this chair for Ollie she decided she wanted one too. We told her that the table was too tall for her to sit in that chair and be able to eat her food, but she insisted.

Her food arrived and she promptly asked to sit by me at the table so she could reach her food.

They had free horse drawn carriage rides, but after wasting a lot of time trying to find Tyson's phone, it was late and Ollie was done. I may take Scarlett back one night before Christmas and take her on the carriage ride. It was a fun way to start the weekend and see something new and fun near our house. Plus, we saw the new Provo Beach Resort and it looks really cool. We may have to check that out soon too.

Chritsmas Countdown

2011-12-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

At daycare, they did a craft making a paper chain countdown to Christmas. Scarlett was so excited and couldn't wait to hang her bell!

The day came when it was time to start tearing off links. Tyson explained to Scarlett that each day we would tear a link off and the chain would get shorter and shorter to show us that Christmas was almost here. After he was done explaining it to her he tore a link off. All hell broke loose! She started crying hysterically that he had ruined her chain and that he needed to fix it. Tyson and I just looked at each other trying not to laugh at how ridiculous she was being. We tried to calm her down to explain to her why he tore it but she kept crying and begging for "sticky tape" to fix it. So Tyson grabbed some glue and tape and fixed the chain.

We still wanted a way for her to actually see that Christmas getting closer so I found this Santa on Pinterest that you add cotton balls to his beard. Much better! And no tearing of paper involved! Everyone is happy!

(Apparently Scarlett hasn't outgrown her fear/hatred of paper tearing. Does everyone remember this video? Still cracks me up.)

Lights at Temple Square

2011-12-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday night we headed to Temple Square to view the temple lights. Scarlett has been BEGGING us to take her to the temple lately. (How cute is that?!) Sunday was the perfect night to go because the weather was (relatively) warm for this time of year (warm before the storm!), and we got there soon after the sun went down so it wasn't that busy. We scored a parking spot right outside the gates so it was perfect!

Can I brag for a minute how amazing Ollie is? Seriously, this kid is a near perfect baby. He slept the whole way up to the temple, didn't fuss when we put him in his bear suit, didn't make a peep in the Bjorn, and only started fussing after we'd been at the temple for about an hour and his nose and cheeks were frozen. He just sat in the Bjorn and took in all the lights and sounds. This dude is my angel baby. (He even slept the entire way home. Angel!) (Though, holy crap is he heavier than Scarlett ever was! I could never wear him in the Bjorn for long periods like I did Scarlett.)

Scarlett had a great time running around seeing all the lights. She especially wanted to find all the different spots with water. Doesn't matter the time of year we go, the fountains/pools are always her favorite part.

We also ran into Tyson's brother and his family there.

I love this tradition we have to visit Temple Square each year. It was always one of my favorite things to do in Arizona, and now it's one of Scarlett's favorite things to do too. I'm glad we were able to go early this year and enjoy the lights without getting too cold. Seeing the lights always put me in the holiday mood!

This is one of my favorite family outings of the year.

Special Request

2011-11-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

A woman I know only through blogging and Twitter gave birth a couple weeks ago to a baby girl. Her baby was born 3 1/2 months early and weighed only 12.7 oz. I have not been able to get Kami and her baby, Afton, out of my mind since I heard about it. Unfortunately, there were too many complications and Afton passed away after living just 1 week. Kami posted a beautiful tribute to little Afton HERE. It is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

I don't know Kami personally, but many of my other "bloggy friends" here in Utah do. I don't usually post things like this, but I have not been able to get Kami out of my mind. If you could include Kami and her family in your prayers, I know she will feel them and appreciate them. Also, a special account has been set up to help with the cost of medical bills that Kami and Afton incurred. If you feel inclined to donate, please do so. I know how quickly those NICU and hospital bed rest bills can add up, even with insurance. I can't imagine having to worry about paying bills on top of the stress and heartbreak of losing a baby. If you want to donate click HERE. (You will need to click on one of the buttons to be directed to the PayPal donation page.) Prayers, money, good thoughts - whatever you can give, I know it will be appreciated.

30 Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

I decided this year to participate in the popular meme of 30 Days of Thanksgiving. I didn't want to post every single day, but I've been keeping track. Here are my 30 things. The mundane, the serious, the things that matter to me.

November 1: Scarlett
Since today is Scarlett's birthday, I'll start with her. I am grateful for Scarlett. She is sassy, smart, loving, and an amazing big sister. She tries my patience probably more than anyone (or anything) else in my life, but I also love her more than I can describe. She made me a mother and everyday she teaches me more and more. She is beautiful inside and out and I love seeing her grow and develop.

November 2: Social Media
Today I am grateful for social media in all its forms. Because of social media I win many prizes (including tickets to My Fair Lady tomorrow!), have met many people, and learn new things all the time. It allows me to be in contact with people near and far.

November 3: Oliver
Today my sweet baby boy had his 6 month check-up. 6 months! He is happy, healthy, and perfect as can be. I can't even adequately describe the love I feel for this little dude. He just melts me. He is so happy and calm. He makes being his mother easy. I love seeing his little personality develop. He is such a sweet, mellow baby.

November 4: Technology
Technology is my BFF. I love the Internet. I love my iPhone. I love TV and DVD players. I love our Xbox (don't tell Tyson). I love computers. I love how all of these integrate and allow me to be connected to people and the world. I say all the time how grateful I am I was born in the digital age. I say it mostly in jest, but really I am dead serious. Me and the Digital Age are BFFs.

November 5: Grandparents close by
Even though it isn't possible for us to live by every member of our families, we have been lucky to live by family almost all of Scarlett's life. We are especially grateful that she and Oliver get to live by grandparents. I have very fond memories of living near grandparents and I'm glad my kids get to experience that, too. I especially love that Grammie Maughan is so generous to offer her house up for parties since our house is so small.

November 6: Medicine
My cold that I was fighting turned into a nasty sinus infection overnight. Luckily I had a prescription of ammoxicillan with a refill on it, some Sudafed for the sinus pressure, and a rice bag to help me until everything kicked in. Also glad this happened today (Sunday) rather than on the day of Scarlett's party, and not on a work day. Today I am very thankful for medicine in all its forms.

November 7: Jobs
I am SO grateful that Tyson and I have full-time jobs. The jobs provide us with some much needed security. Tyson has one in his field and I have one where I'm learning something new. We feel extremely blessed to have the jobs that we do.

November 8: Books
I love books! I always have. I love the escape they provide, the knowledge they give, and entertainment I get from them. I love that Scarlett appreciates books and loves to read and be read to. I love having a library card and a library close by. I love having a Kindle and having all my books in one place. I love having my books on my phone. Books provide a much needed release/relief for me.

November 9: Project Life
I am so thankful for Project Life. Because of Project Life I have been able to capture more these last 3 years than I ever would have before. I have so many aspects of our day-to-day life, things that would have been previously overlooked. I love looking back at our albums and I know as the kids get older they will too. I am so thankful that Project Life is so easy and accessible. It has inspired me in so many ways and has allowed me to record my family's history in an amazing way.

November 10: Good doctors
I am so grateful for good doctors. Mine and my kids'. My OB/GYN with Ollie was amazing. He's a bit quirky but he's an amazing doctor. Scarlett's pediatrician is amazing. I cannot say enough good things about him. We are so grateful for him and all he's done for us since we've lived here. I'm also grateful for all the doctors that Ollie and Scarlett had in the NICU (as well as nurses and other specialists). Because of them I have two healthy kids.

November 11: Good friends
Today I am especially grateful for good friends. People who check up on me and offer to help. People who know me and love me despite my flaws. People I know will be there for me no matter what. I am blessed with many wonderful people in my life. I only hope I am as good to them as they are to me.

November 12: Disney
This may seem silly, but I am grateful for Disney! So many of our family's great memories involve Disney. Trips to Disneyland, watching Disney movies, and today we got to go to Disney on Ice. We are definitely a Disney family!

November 13: Church
Scarlett participated in her first Primary Program today. I am grateful for the foundation the Church provides. I am grateful for the principles it teaches. My testimony is constantly a work in progress, but I am grateful for the one I have. I guess, with this one, I'm really grateful for the Gospel. The Gospel has provided me much comfort over the years.

November 14: Transportation
I am grateful that we are a two car family. I don't know how we'd do it if we weren't. I'm also grateful for other modes of transportation. Planes so Tyson can work all over the world, decent public transportation (in certain parts of town), and all the other modes of transportation that allow us to have all the things we do that make life easy.

November 15: My bed
I am grateful for my bed. Just ask my sister, she will tell you how comfortable it is. I am grateful that it provides comfort and rest for me at the end of the day. I love sleeping and my comfortable bed makes it so much easier.

November 16: Seasons in Utah
By far the best thing about Utah is the changing seasons. Growing up in Arizona I didn't really see the seasons. Now I get to experience the beauty of each season.

November 17: Modern medicine
Today is World Prematurity Day. Today I am grateful for modern medicine. I am grateful for hospitals, doctors and all the medical technology that has helped me and my babies. I am grateful for the advances in medicine that have allowed them to not only survive, but thrive. Had my babies been born in another time, or even another country, I don't know how well they'd do. Modern medicine makes my little miracles possible.

November 18: Entertainment
I am grateful to live in an age of entertainment at the ready. I can go to the movies, watch one at home or even in the car. I am grateful for movies, books and music and to live in an age where these things thrive.

November 19: Beauty products
As shallow as this sounds, I'm grateful for beauty products. From makeup and nail polish to hair dye and other things. My first gray hair popped up somewhere in my teens, and I'm thankful that despite my genes, I don't have to be completely gray by 40!

November 20: Tyson
The good, the bad, the in between. I love this guy.

November 21: Health insurance
I am very thankful for our health insurance. Since moving to Utah health insurance has been a struggle for us. I am glad that we have it, it covers what we need it to, and most importantly that it isn't costing us an arm and a leg anymore.

November 22: Our home
I am thankful for our little home. It's a downgrade in many ways from our last place, but it's also been better in just as many. I am grateful we have a roof over our head, water in our pipes, and heat coming out of the vents. We may not have a dishwasher, but we have a comfortable place to live.

November 23: Dr. Pepper
I am thankful for my life blood. My drug of choice. The thing that calms me and helps me get through each day. (Do I sound like an addict? I can totally quit at any time.) I am thankful for the Brown Nectar of the Gods that so happily fills my belly.

November 24: Living in the USA
I am thankful to be a US citizen. To have rights and freedoms and to be able to freely voice my opinion. I am grateful for the political system we have (no matter how broken one may think it is). I am grateful for all that the red, white and blue stand for.

November 25: Family celebrations
I am thankful to have family close by to celebrate holidays with. I am grateful that Scarlett and Ollie are able to have good relationships with some of their cousins.

November 26: Photography
We had family pictures taken today, and I'm so grateful for photography. Photography captures moments I love and want to remember. Photography and cameras allow Tyson to have a job. Photography allows our family that doesn't live near us to still be a part of our special moments. I am very thankful for photography.

November 27: The Temple
We drove to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. Scarlett had been begging us to take her to the temple and was so excited to be there. We passed the Mount Timpanogos temple on the way and she said "There's the temple! We're there already!" She is very familiar with that temple because we pass it frequently. When we finally made it to the Salt Lake Temple, as we were walking by it, it was looming over our heads and Scarlett said "I'm going to get married there one day." Tyson and I just looked at each other and smiled. We are very grateful for the blessings of the temple. We are grateful for our knowledge of eternal families. I really hope that Scarlett does get married there one day. (And Ollie, too.) I'm grateful that Scarlett loves to visit there and recognizes how peaceful and happy it is there, even if she doesn't quite fully understand why.

November 28: Utah Activities
I have said for a very long time that one of my favorite things about Utah is the abundance of free/cheap/easily accessible family activities. I don't have to look hard or far to find something for us to do in a relatively close proximity. There is almost always something going on.

November 29: Health
Despite my body's inability to carry a baby to term, I am a fairly healthy person. (Well, skin cancer aside.) I've never broken a bone or had stitches. (Skin cancer and child birth aside.) Same for Tyson and (so far) Scarlett and Ollie. Tyson and my kids are healthy people. After a cancer scare and a cancer reality in each of our families this year, we are especially grateful for the health of our families. I am grateful for my body and all that is does. The human body is truly an amazing thing. (I especially thought that after my skin cancer biopsy and my body regenerated cells to fill in the gaping hole in my arm. You're welcome for that visual!) But seriously, how amazing is the human body. I've grown and birthed two humans. I've healed from all sorts of minor illnesses and cuts and scrapes.

November 30: The Savior
As this season of thanksgiving ends, and the Christmas season begins, it is only fitting that my final thanks be for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for His sacrifice and for the Atonement, and that I have the ability each and every day to repent of my shortcomings. I am grateful that through the Atonement forgiveness is possible. I am grateful for the peace I have knowing that the Savior knows me, loves me and that because he suffered for me, he is aware my of trials and pain. He is also aware of my joys and happiness, for which I am grateful, too. As imperfect as I may be, He is not, and because of that, each day I get to try again.

7 Months Old

2011-11-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ollie is now 7 months old!

Time is sure flying by with this little guy. He is now more than halfway to one year old. He is still the sweetest litte baby. He is just so dang happy! I can't believe how happy he is. Yes he fusses and cries, but that is rare and it's usually because he needs/wants something. He is just so content to be part of the crowd and smile and take it all in.

This month Ollie had TWO teeth poke through. He was drooling like crazy and chewing on everything he could get his little hands on so we knew he was. They finally poked through. It was funny because once they poked through he couldn't stop playing with them. His tongue or lip was always running over them. It was so cute to watch. (I'm also pretty sure a top tooth is trying to break through.)

We've also been working on sitting up. He can do it for a few seconds at a time but then when we get excited so does he and he knocks himself over. You can tell that he really wants to sit up because he keeps pulling and trying to lift himself up and he whines so we'll sit him up. He just wants to be a big boy. I don't think it will be too much longer before he is sitting up, and then I know we're in for trouble. (He's already trying really hard to army crawl, and I know it won't be long before he picks that up.)

This month we also took Ollie off the expensive Nutramigen and put him back on regular formula. (My bank account rejoiced!) He has had minimal issues with the change and we are very grateful for that. The pediatrician told us that switching back to regular formula may cause some issues because Nutramigen is so easy for them to digest, regular formula can be a shock after. So to thwart that we put him on Miralax. I don't need any ER trips for constipation like we had with Scarlett.

He's eating about 6 oz every 2-3 hours and he's getting solids at dinner everyday. He LOVES eating off a spoon. Kind of cracks me up how happy he is to eat real food. He loves sweet potatoes and squash and is very indifferent to fruit. (Why do my kids hate fruit but love vegetables?!)

He's growing like a weed and seems bigger every morning when I get him out of bed. In the past couple weeks he quit sleeping through the night and has gone back to eating every few hours. It's kind of driving me crazy but I think it has to do with teething and a growth spurt. I also secretly love it because it gives me extra peaceful snuggle time. This boy loves to snuggle withhis mama! He is still definitely a mama's boy. I pride myself on having the magic touch. ;)

We also switched Ollie to size 3 diapers. He could still wear a size 1-2 but he's on the cusp and I didn't want a bunch to go to waste if he outgrew them too fast. Turns out that was the right choice. Scarlett was in this size FOREVER. We'll see how long it takes for him to move up a size.

Lately when we put Ollie to bed he takes his blanket and pulls a corner up to his cheek and sleeps with his hand and blanket on his cheek. It is so freaking cute and I'm totally that creeper mom that sits and stares at her baby while he sleeps. (The blanket is actually one my sister crocheted for Scarlett but we use it for Ollie because it's the perfect size for his bed and it keeps him warm. I'd use the one she made for Ollie but she hasn't sent it to me yet. *hint hint*)

Scarlett is still having a great time with Ollie. She still tries to make him giggle and loves to tell me "Mama, tell Bubba "Hey Bubba, look what sissie has!" or "Hey Bubba, look what Sissie's doing!" She wants me to dictate all her play time to him and make sure he knows what he's missing out on. ;) I came home the other night after being out with friends and Tyson was working on his computer, Ollie was sitting on the table in the Bumbo, and Scarlett was standing in front of Ollie being silly and getting the biggest giggles out of him. (I may have teared up at that sight. What? My babies make me sappy.) One morning we were getting them ready for daycare and they were sitting on the couch together. I had to go across the room to get Ollie's car seat and I said to Scarlett "Don't let brother fall of the couch. Hold him for a second while I get his chair." She said "Ok, mama. I'll hold brother." He started to tip over as I got back to the couch and Scarlett said "Mama! He's falling! But I have his hand! I didn't let go! He didn't fall!" I really think their age difference is working in our favor. I love it.

We are grateful for our happy, healthy little boy. Happy seven months Ollie!

Thanksgiving, 2011 Edition

2011-11-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving with Tyson's family this year. As per tradition, Tyson and his brothers went shooting. Also as is tradition, Tyson didn't take any pictures. But he did have a great time testing out his early Christmas present and hanging out with the boys of the family.

The weather on Thanksgiving was ABSOLUTELY beautiful! It was in the 50s and mostly sunny. I told Tyson that I was kind of warm in my sweater. While all the food was finishing cooking Tyson and Bill went outside to play a quick game of bocce ball.

Scarlett, Willem and Holden had a fun time playing in the leaves that had blown into the yard and running around.

I took Ollie out and he loved just sitting in the sun.

We had the usual Thanksgiving feast and it was delicious!

After we were all sufficiently stuffed, we had a lazy day of hanging out. The kids loved having Uncle Brad around and took full advantage of playing with him. He's such a good sport.

After lunch I put Ollie down for a nap. It was so peaceful to sit in the rocker with him while he slept. It gave me a few quiet moments to reflect on the many blessings I have, especially my little family.

The only bad thing about Thanksgiving is we never have leftovers to take home. And this year we forgot to take a family picture. Other than that it was a great day! Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Big Dreams

2011-11-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tyson and I ocassionally talk about where, if given the chance, we'd travel in the world. We have the usual places that people dream of like Greece, Ireland and visiting somewhere tropical (the location almost always changes). There is one location that always pops up on my list that Tyson just sort of laughs at. I always put Washington DC near the top of my list. His reponse is almost always "We're being hypotethical. Dream big! You can pick anywhere in the world and you pick somewhere across the continent." It's true. I pick DC. Not necessarily over other countries/locales, just as somewhere I REALLY want to visit.

Well, last year some time I realized that my 30th birthday falls right around the next Presidential Inauguration. I told Tyson that's what I want for my 30th birthday, a trip to Washington DC for the Inauguration. I realize that this is most likeyly that, a dream, but I can't even begin to comprehend how amazing it would be to be in DC during all that. I also realize what a random birthday wish this is to most people. Well, I'm not your typical person, I guess.

I picked a fairly useless degree, Political Science, unless I go to grad school or law school, because it is something I'm extremely interested in and passionate about. Am I expert or smarter than other people? No. It's just one of my interests. Sort of like my love for pop culture, but doesn't actually harm my brain. Politics and American history fascinate me.

I doubt my dream of being in DC for my 30th will happen but oh how I wish that it would. Maybe the good luck fairies will bestow some grace on me and Tyson and I can go live one of my dreams.

Back to My Roots

2011-11-21T11:09:00.001-07:00

I've been dyeing my hair since my early teens. It began as a form of rebellion, the only kind I was really comfortable with. Something that wasn't permanent but gave me some change. I've tried everything except black and shades of blond. (I know my limitations. Black is too hard to recover from and I've never had the desire to have blond hair.) Everything else was fair game. (Although, to be honest, I never tried anything that wasn't a "hair" color, meaning I never did purples, blues or anything like that. My rebellion was pretty lame at best.) It was in my late teens that my genes started to catch up with me and gray hair started popping up. As I entered my twenties, coloring my hair became a way of life to fight the grays. I stuck to more natural colors and tried to stay pretty close to my "real" color, which I wasn't really sure what it was anymore.

Somewhere along the way keeping up with the coloring fell to the wayside. I was already behind on my color when I found out I was pregnant with Ollie. Even though most say it's fine in the first trimester I decided to skip it. Then I was sick and lazy and didn't want to take the time to do it when I could be sleeping or resting. Then I got put on bed rest. Then the baby came and was in the NICU. Then I had a newborn at home. Then I started working full-time. Then. Then. Then. It was always something keeping me from coloring my hair.

I finally decided I didn't want the grays to take over my life. I'm not even 30 and I'm not ready to give in to those genes yet. I made an appointment and got my hair colored. I told her I wanted her to match my roots. It was pretty easy to do because there was almost two years worth of roots to match. I was surprised by how dark it was, but I love it. I don't think my hair has been this dark since I was a kid. It feels nice to be back to my roots. I'm not ready to give in to the grays, so these dark roots are here to stay!

Breaking Dawn

2011-11-20T15:23:00.001-07:00

True to tradition, I wore Team Edward shirt. I was only slightly embarrassed to be wearing it. I mean, everyone was seeing the same thing, and were varying degrees of fans.

I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. It was much better than Eclipse. I was far more entertained than I was with Eclipse. As to be expected there were some ridiculous parts. I still can't get over the digi-wolf voices. It was awful and distracting. Rosalie's wigs were much better, but that's still not saying much. Emmett looks like he had a ridiculous amount of Botox. Jasper appeared noticeably less constipated. Carlisle still had a weird British-esque accent and his hair was weird. Charlie was by far the best part of the movie. The honeymoon scenes weren't as awkward as people were making them out to be. The whole birth scene was less of what I was expecting in some ways, and more in others. I enjoyed that the movie as a whole sort of poked fun at itself a couple times. Overall, I was pretty entertained and only mildly annoyed at certain parts. I thought it was interesting that I liked this movie because I hated the book. We'll see what I think after the final one.

As for my next venture into fandom, I've been told for a very long time I need to read The Hunger Games. Books are downloaded and just waiting to be read. What series do I need to become obsessed with after that?

Prematurity x2

2011-11-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

I am of the mother of two preemies. Two tiny babies who needed help when theywere born. Scarlett is considered amicro-preemie. Born at 30 weeks weighingonly 2 lbs 12 oz, I could never have imagined a baby that small growing intothe little person she is today. Hints ofher personality were there even back then. She was spunky and full of fire. The nurses told us that all the time. They said the fight in her was what was doing her the most good. She was born extremely strong in a tinybody. As for Ollie, he was born one dayshy of 36 weeks. Had he been born thenext day, he would have been considered “near term” and been labeled a late-termpreemie. As it was, he’s my secondpreemie. My second baby to stay in theNICU. My second baby to require help tocome home.

When I found out I was pregnant with Ollie, I had twoschools of thought constantly arguing in my head. One said “Scarlett was a fluke. This one will be fine.” The other said “This one will come earlytoo. Your body is broken.” It turns out that both were sort ofright. With the help of my doctor andmodern medicine I was able to keep Ollie in almost 6 weeks longer thanScarlett. It took bed rest, shots, pillsand a healthy dose of reality that my body does not want to stay pregnant pasta certain point, but he stayed in longer than Scarlett did.

I had naively thought that I would get the birth I didn’tget with Scarlett. I thought I’d get tohold my baby immediately after delivery. I thought I’d get visitors who’d get to hold my baby and that Scarlettwould get to come to the room and meet her brother. I thought I’d get to leave the hospital atthe same time as my baby. I thought ourfirst family photo would be me in a hospital gown holding a brand new baby in ahospital hat, with Tyson and Scarlett beaming next to me. None of that happened. None of that will likely ever happen for me.

For some as yet to be determined reason, my body can’t carrya baby to term. My cervix is fine. My progesterone levels are fine. I don’t develop pre-eclampsia. There is no medically known reason for thisto keep happening, but it does. Scarlettwas not a fluke. Pre-term labor is whatmy body does. Knowing this I am sograteful for modern medicine. I amgrateful that I have a doctor that knows how to treat me and help me keep mybabies in as long as possible. I’mgrateful that should another baby come to our family, that modern medicine willgive it a better chance of surviving. I’m grateful that we live in a place where I have access to allthis. I’m grateful that organizationslike the March of Dimes continue to fund research to help stop prematurebirths. Nothing I say or do will ever be enough to show my gratitude for thedevelopments that have helped me and my babies.

I will continue to bring as much awareness to prematurity asI can through my small corner of the world. The fight against premature birth is far from over. 1 in 8 babies in the US is bornpremature. I have personally experiencedthis twice. I have been extremelyblessed that neither of my kids have lasting effects from their prematurity. Many babies are not so lucky. Premature birth is the number 1 killer ofnewborns. Research to ending thisepidemic is crucial. Funding for thisresearch is necessary. I will continueto support the March of Dimes for the rest of my life.

I wrote this blog as part of a Bloggers Unite campaign insupport of World Prematurity Day. November is Prematurity Awareness Month. I, along with thousands of others, lend our blogs as the voice ofprematurity and wear purple today to honor our preemies.

Primary Program

2011-11-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

Scarlett participated in her first Primary Program on Sunday!

(I took this after the program before I dropped her off at class.)

I was a little nervous for how it would go because we all missed church the week before the program because we were sick, and then the Saturday practice we also missed because of Disney on Ice. (I bought the tickets before I even knew when the program was.) I practiced her part with her a bunch and told her what to expect (or what I assumed she'd be doing. I really had no clue how they were going to do it.) When it came time for her to go sit up with all the other kids she really didn't want to go. I had to walk her up there to sit and I was really nervous she wouldn't want to do it. She stayed up there and sat with one of the teachers. When it came time for the songs she got up and sang. When it came time for her part she said it into the mic, but it was really muffled. It was hard to understand her but she did it! I was seriously so proud of her for doing that! (It was just one line. It was "Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.") Despite what some may think, Scarlett is actually a pretty shy kid. I was so proud that she got up in front of such a big crowd to say her part. Our ward was the most packed I have EVER seen it! (We had two baby blessings and the Primary program, so we opened up into the gym.) At one point she saw me smiling at her and she blew me a kiss.

Primary has been one of Scarlett's harder adjustments, but I'm hopeful that will change. (I really don't understand why Primary is so hard for her.) I know I say something similar this all the time, but I seriously can't believe that my baby girl just participated in her first Primary Program. She is growing so fast! I know it may seem silly, but I am very proud of her for going up there, saying her part and singing the songs. This is just the first of many Primary programs in her future. Who knew 2011 would be such a big year for Scarlett!?

Disney on Ice

2011-11-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Ollie, we had tickets to Disney on Ice, but I got put on bed rest and I couldn't go and then Tys was out of town so he couldn't even take Scarlett. We were all pretty bummed. It's a good thing Disney on Ice comes around a couple times a year because we were able to go this time around! I was able to get a really good deal on tickets and since the show was around Scarlett's birthday we decided this would be her main present. We had such a fun time! Tyson and I took Scarlett and I think she really enjoyed the time with just us.

Here we are waiting for the show to start.

Scarlett saw these light up lanterns that some of the other kids had and asked if she could have one. We figured since this was her birthday treat it was fine. She absolutely loved it!

And now here is a whole smattering of pictures from the show. These were all taken with Tyson's 4s, which goes to show you how amazing the camera is on that thing. It's better than the first digital camera we owned. Crazy that it's on his phone. (These didn't post in the order we took them and I'm not aboue to take the time to fix them.)

This is when I took over the camera. You can tell because the quality goes way down. I don't know all the tricks Tyson does to get great pictures with his phone. Oh well.

Scarlett was so excited to see all the characters she's so familiar with. She loved watching the skaters and would clap so excitedly at the end of each number. She was enthralled the whole time. I'm so glad we were able to take her to this and that she enjoyed it so much. Disney never fails to disappoint us!

Scarlett's (not so) Penguin Party

2011-11-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago I came up with the theme for Scarlett's birthday party - penguins. She loves penguins so I knew she'd be fine with the theme. I immediately started thinking of ideas and finding inspiration and pinning things on Pinterest. Life usually has a way of thwarting my plans, and Scarlett's party was no exception. We all got sick the week of her party and all the preparations I had so carefully planned to complete during the week were ignored while we all tried to get better. Friday night came and I knew I needed to figure out how to give her a "penguin" party without many actual penguins because I couldn't complete most of my plans in time, and penguin things aren't easy to come by. I decided on a black and white theme and hoped that Tyson could still make the penguin cake I had found. Things were looking a little better and my guilt was mostly gone because Tyson assured me over and over again "She's 4. She's just happy she's having a party. She will be more than happy with what we've done."

The day of the party was looking a little dicey, though. I received texts and calls from a few guests that they or their kids were sick and couldn't come. The guest list was cut in half and I wondered if we should reschedule. Tyson didn't want to so we went ahead as planned with our re-themed black and white party. Honestly, I don't think Scarlett even noticed there weren't any penguins, and if she did, she didn't say anything. I bought black and white balloons, plates, a tablecloth and left it at that. Tyson was able to make her penguin cake and all was well.

I didn't take many pictures, and Tyson only took a few videos, but the party went off without a hitch. We served tuna sandwiches (which I had originally planned to serve with a sign that said "fish sandwiches"), sea salt and vinegar chips, Oreos and pink lemonade. (I was originally going to serve sparkling blue koolaid and label it "ocean water" but could not find blue koolaid anywhere.)

I had originally planned on taking this penguin onesie I found and fashioning it into a shirt for Scarlett, but I ran out of time. (And frankly, threading a bobbin and sewing trim onto a shirt was not really high on my "want to do" list after being sick all week.) So she wore it as a onesie with a skirt over it. I had a penguin onesie for Ollie too, but when we got to my mother-in-law's house, she had a cute penguin sweater for him to wear.

I love this picture of Scarlett and Ollie hanging out during the party. You can't really see either of their penguin shirts, oh well!

When it came time for presents Scarlett was super excited. She was so excited she almost didn't wait for us to get there for her to open them. She was so happy with all her presents. She sure was spoiled. Thank you, everyone!

This totally cracks me up. Tyson's sister, Brittany, works as a store manager for Lulu Lemon. When she was in Canada for work she saw their new kids line and got Scarlett a Lulu yoga top and a Lulu sweater. I can't believe they make clothes like this for kids! I'm hoping that for my birthday I get a jacket like this in my size. ;)

Since I'm not the artistic one in our family, I left it up to Tyson how he was going to do the cake. He was debating between cutting out a penguin shaped cake from a sheet cake or just drawing a penguin on with frosting. He decided on the latter because of time constraints. I have to say, he did a pretty dang good job for completing it while the party was going on. And Scarlett loved her cake!

At the very end of the party we finally remembered to take a family picture.

So even though her party wasn't what I had originally envisions, it turned out just fine. I still can't believe my baby girl is 4!

4 Year Check-up

2011-11-10T13:13:00.001-07:00

Scarlett had her 4 year check up today.

She weighed 28 lbs (>1%) and measured 39 3/4 inches tall (49%). She got to do an eye exam, have her blood pressure taken, and got shots. When we pulled up to the office she said "Mom, I only want three shots." I replied "I'm not sure how many you're getting today. We'll have to ask." She quickly shot back, "But mom, I got two last time and I only want three today." She got her wish and she was only scheduled for three shots.

When the doctor came in he said "I have good news! Scarlett is on the cusp of being on the charts. If she weighed just a tiny bit more she'd be in the 1%. She's all caught up!" That was great to hear. As part of the exam her doctor asked her a bunch of questions and held a lengthy conversation with her. Then he asked her questions about what they talked about and what certain things meant. Then they played some games to test her motor skills and dexterity and he had her stretch and exercise to test her flexibility and joints. He said she did extremely well. He said her vocabulary and comprehension exceeds what he would expect for a 4 year old. He said that if he didn't know her history, he would never believe she was 10 weeks early and was doing this well. I think was probably Scarlett's favorite doctor visit ever because of all the fun things she got to do. (At least up until she got shots.)

It was so great to hear that Scarlett is doing so well. She is one happy, healthy 4 year old!

*****
As a random side note...we're switching Ollie to Scarlett's pediatrician. At first I thought it would be nice to have them have separate pediatricians, but I'm just not as invested in the new pediatrician's office as I am to Scarlett's. I felt obligated to take Ollie to his pediatrician because that's who treated him in the NICU, but I've never felt as comfortable with him as I have with Scarlett's doctor. Now that Ollie's a little older and his visits are going to be less frequent, I'm going to switch him to Scarlett's pediatrician. Plus, I had originally felt like I should keep Ollie with is pediatrician because he knew Ollie's history, but I'm feeling less and less obligated to him. I LOVE Scarlett's pediatrician. LOVE him! The whole practice is great. I've just never felt that "connection" with Ollie's doctor. Plus, I just don't feel like Ollie's doctor would go the extra mile in certain ways that Scarlett's has. He's a good doctor, I just don't think he's the right doctor for us. So today when we were at Scarlett's doctor I filled out the paperwork to switch Ollie over. Now we have only one pediatrician to keep track of! Too bad he's all the way in Murray. Guess it's time to move back up to SLC. ;)

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2011-11-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

(That is what my sister would call a Dad joke.)

When I feel anxious or overwhelmed, I tend to take it out on my hair, usually in the form of a drastic (for me) hair change. This is exactly what happened Friday night.

I've been wanting to change my hair but not sure what to do. I'd been thinking about some layers and side-swept bangs but wasn't sure. I had been looking for a picture online of what I was picturing in my head, but just couldn't find it. I finally decided the picture probably didn't exist. And then I did the most rational thing I could think of in my boredom.

I cut my bangs myself. To the tune of about 6 inches.

This is basically me thinking "Crap. I should have just waited."

Once I made the snip, I immediately knew I had made a mistake doing it myself. But there was no turning back so some actual rational thinking came into play and I decided rather than try and fix them myself, I'd wait until morning and have a professional fix it.

Scarlett went with me and when the lady said "So, what are we doing to your hair today?", Scarlett replied "She cut her hair herself. She's a naughty!" The lady laughed and looked at me and I told her it was true. Luckily she was able to fix it without taking too much length off. She added layers and fixed the bangs so they blended better and pretty much told me I shouldn't cut my hair myself again. (Duly noted, but probably won't be following that piece of advice.)

Of course I did this the day before Scarlett's party and had to figure out how to style a new do the day of her party. Luckily it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be with the layers. (Why do I always change to haircuts that require actual time to do?! I don't want to take time to do my hair. I'm so stupid.)

Pretty much I did what I do about once a year and got a haircut I wasn't planning on. Hey, at least I'm consistent.

My Fair Lady

2011-11-05T08:19:00.000-06:00

Thursday night I was able to see My Fair Lady at the Hale Center Theatre in West Valley. I received tickets through Stephanie at The Daily Blarg. Stephanie and a few other local bloggers were giving tickets to their readers to promote the run of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins at Hale. I was glad to receive a pair of tickets and took my mom as my date.

I had never seen My Fair Lady before, in fact, I've never even seen the movie. I was going into this completely blind with no idea what the story was about. I recognized the characters of Eliza and Henry because they're cultural references and I even recognized a couple of the songs. (One of the songs was referenced in a show I've seen a bunch of times, I could even hear the dialogue in my head, but I could NOT place the show. It was driving me crazy. I finally Googled it and figured out it was from a Will & Grace episode.)

I was not disappointed by this production. The theatre is unique because it's "in the round". (My crappy picture doesn't do it justice.) That was such an interesting aspect to watch how they utilized the full 360 throughout the play. The stage itself was also pretty amazing. They had sets coming up from below the round stage and sets descending from above. It was interesting to see it all come together.

As for the play itself, I really enjoyed it. It exceeded my expectations for a community theater production. The cast was great. I'm interested in seeing the movie adaptation with Audrey Hepburn now. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to see this production. It was a fun experience and such a fun a play to watch.

(There was also a little social before the play for the bloggers that hosted the giveaways for the tickets and those that were given the tickets. We had light snacks and got to mingle. My mom got to see an interesting aspect of my life - the online part. I was able to meet a few people I've only talked to online and I'm sure my mom thought it was weird that someone would recognize me from my avatar online. My sister doesn't say that most of the people in my life came from my computer for no reason!)

Halloween!

2011-11-04T07:19:00.000-06:00

It was so fun to see Scarlett excited about Halloween this year! She was last year, but this year was different somehow.

Monday, Scarlett and Ollie were able to wear costumes to daycare for their Halloween party. I didn't want them ruining their actual Halloween costumes so Scarlett wore her Sleeping Beauty dress-up and Ollie wore a mouse costume I bought when Scarlett was a baby but was too big for her. Sadly, we didn't get a picture of them dressed up for school. They got to play Halloween games and decorate Halloween treats at school. Scarlett loved decorating the cookies. Tyson picked them up early from daycare and took them trick-or-treating at his work. Again, no pictures of that either. (Does anyone else find it funny/ironic that Tyson - the professional camera guy - didn't take any pictures of his kids at the Halloween activities he was supervisor of?)

Monday evening we met at my in-law's for dinner and trick-or-treating with the cousins. It was SO cute to see the kids all together and dressed up.

And we got a picture of Scarlett and Ollie together.

We took the kids around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the weather was! I think this was probably the nicest Halloween weather we've had since we moved here almost 4 years ago. It cooled down once the sun went down, but even then it wasn't that cold. It made for a very pleasant evening as we walked around the neighborhood.

Scarlett, Will and Holden had a great time going up to the doors. Matt told us at dinner that when a bowl was put out Scarlett would try and take handfuls of candy and he'd have to tell her to stop. She did this at every house. Guess we need to work on her manners.

About halfway through, Meagan found us on the Cruiser. Tyson took a turn on the bike.

Then I asked for a turn. I can't even honestly remember the last time I was on a bike. It had to have been at least 15+ years ago because I don't think I even owned a bike after elementary school. What they say about bikes is true - you really don't forget how to ride one! (Though, remembering how to balance on one when you're going super slow to keep up with the trick-or-treaters is a slightly different story!)

We made it around most of the neighborhood and then headed back for a delicious dinner of Texas style chili and cornbread. We finished off the night with a viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas in the newly finished movie room where Scarlett spent her time on the stage singing all the songs from the movie.

It was a fun Halloween spent with family.

6 Month Check-up

2011-11-03T13:51:00.000-06:00

Ollie had his 6 month check-up today. He weighed 14.3 lbs and was 27 inches long. He's been fighting a cold the past few days so his doctor decided to hold off on giving him any immunizations until he's rid of that. That was fine by me because that's actually what I wanted to happen. We'll go back in the next couple weeks and get them all squared away. His doctor said he's a little skinny, but nothing to be too concerned about. His height is about 70% and weight about 1%. That sounds about right for one of my kids. While his pediatrician isn't too concerned about his weight, he does want us to be mindful of giving him "good" calories. (Which confuses me because I figure any kind of calorie is a good kind for a growing baby. It's not like he's drinking soda and having candy.) I guess his point was while solid foods are good for teaching Ollie to eat, rice/oatmeal is actually better for calorie intake so we're supposed to focus more on those rather than solid foods.

Tyson took Ollie in and the whole time he was giving me the run down I kept thinking "Have you seen his cheeks? Clearly he's eating. He's more solid than Scarlett ever was." I was curious so I went back and looked at Scarlett's stats from her 6 month check-up and she was 13.6 lbs and 26 1/4 inches. Pretty close, so maybe the doctor does have a point that he needs more calories. But he is growing and he seems more solid than I remember Scarlett feeling at this age, so I'm not too concerned. He's eating about 6 oz at every feeding and half of those have rice mixed in and he's getting solids at least once a day, sometimes twice if daycare gives him some at lunch.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hate when doctors get stuck on the "numbers" part of growth. I get that there's a range that's normal and kids are supposed to be within those, but I hate when that's all doctors focus on. Luckily neither of our pediatricians focus on numbers too much, but Ollie's doctor does more than Scarlett's doctor, and it's more than I'm used to. (And frankly, a little more than I'd like.) I guess it's a good thing they didn't focus on those charts too much when I was a kid because I, along with a couple of my siblings, probably would have been carted off by the state because we weren't on the charts.

I hate feeling like I have to defend my kids and their size. I'm just glad Ollie is growing, is healthy and is happy. I honestly can't ask for more in a baby than what I have with him. He's a great baby. He eats when he's hungry, sleeps when he needs to sleep and he's hitting all his other milestones. That's all that matters to me.

Halloween - Ward Party

2011-11-03T08:07:00.000-06:00

Saturday was our ward party. We had the typical dinner of chili and all the fixings, then went around to different classrooms for games and trick-or-treating.

This year we did something we don't normally do. We all dressed up in a theme! Scarlett asked to be Tinker Bell a while ago so then it was easy to make Ollie Peter Pan. Then I thought it would be funny for me to be Wendy and Tyson to be one of the other characters. Now, no matter what he tells you, I gave him the option of Michael or Hook and HE chose Nana because he thought it would be funny. As it got closer and I started making the costumes I think he got a little unsure about his choice, but decided it was fine for just one night. I'm glad he's such a good sport! (As it got closer to Halloween Scarlett changed her mind and suddenly wanted to be Sleeping Beauty. But I had already bought all the stuff for her and Ollie's costumes so I was torn. Then I found out daycare was having a party and told her she was so lucky that she got two costumes. It was win-win for everyone!)

He we are right before the ward party. People kept asking why Tyson had a pillow on his head. Because Nana falls on the blocks and gets hurt!

I got the idea for Scarlett's costume from THIS Pinterest pin. (Apparently there are people out there who get angry for "stealing" ides seen on Pinterest and other websites. If that's the case what are half the blogs out there doing? Ever heard of IKEA hacks, etc? So hopefully no one is too angry I saw an idea and made it.) I bought 5.5 yards of tulle and it was barely enough for this dress. (And holy crap is tulle expensive!) When I finished and had her try it on, she was very upset that it wasn't a skirt and that she had to put her arms through it. The day of the ward party was the same thing. Once she had the whole ensemble on though, she was fine and forgot she didn't like it. She loved running outside pretending she was flying. I wasn't too happy with how it turned out at first, but once she had the whole thing on, I was fine with it. It came together much better than when just the dress part was done.

(I purposely bought small wings because Tinker Bell's are small wings rather than large fairy wings.)

Ollie's Peter Pan outfit was loosely based off THIS post from Make It and Love It. Apparently Ollie's entire Peter Pan outfit is loosely based off Peter Pan because I got the whole color scheme of the outfit wrong. I also made his hat too small because I forgot to account for seam allowances when measuring his head and making the pattern. Meh. He's still the cutest Peter Pan I've ever seen.

(I'm already thinking of costumes for next year. I've pinned them on Pinterest - Bert and Mary Poppins. Scarlett and Ollie can be Bert and Mary Poppins from Jolly Holiday and Tyson and I can be either the penguins from Jolly Holiday or normal Marry Poppins and Chimney Sweep Bert. Those are going to require a lot more sewing than these and are probably going to test my skill level. Someone talk me off that ledge and tell me to just buy costumes.)

Anyway, back to the party. When we got there they had Halloween music playing and all the kids were running around playing and dancing. Scarlett was having the time of her life.

After dinner we were able to take another family picture using a Fall backdrop.

After pictures we went around and played games and Scarlett got candy. (Tys took Ollie home to put him to bed.) Scarlett played pumpkin bowling, the cake walk, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and even went fishing for a prize. (Notice her sticking out "the Carlson tongue". Clearly she was concentrating.) She got a coloring book and was super happy!

We left shortly after that because Scarlett said she was tired. When we got home she fell asleep in her costume, watching the iPhone on the couch. We took off most of her costume and laid her in bed and she slept until the next morning. It was great!

I don't know that we'll ever do a theme again, but I'm so glad Tyson was a good sport about it. Scarlett loved telling people that her dad was Nana. It's nice to have a ward party before Halloween because it helps extend the fun and gets more use out of the costumes! Halloween isn't one of my favorite holidays but I do enjoy it more now that I have kids and get to experience it with them. Scarlett's at such a fun age too. Halloween part 1 was a success!

4 Year Interview

2011-11-02T08:02:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be fun to start interviewing Scarlett on or around her birthday each year and see how things change each year. I decided to start this year because she's a Sunbeam.

I was surprised by a few of her answers, but overall she gave me the answers I thought she would. I love that she said that Bubba and Grammie are her best friends. Scarlett loves having my mom here all the time. It will be fun to see how her answers have changed next year.

4 Years Old!

2011-11-01T03:04:00.000-06:00

Today Scarlett is 4 years old!

Scarlett loves: dresses, pink, movies, princesses,chocolate, waffles, tomatoes, coloring, digging in the dirt, playing in thebath, ballerinas, penguins, horses, having her nails painted, “reading”stories, playing dress-ups, swinging, “helping” with the dishes, singing, andso much more!

This past year Scarlett has had some major changes in thelife she knows. The biggest change isshe became a big sister. I think this isScarlett’s absolute favorite thing about life right now. She loves Ollie! I’ve mentioned to a few different people thatScarlett loves Ollie so much, it has never occurred to her she could be jealousof him. From day one she has beennothing but excited about him. She hasadapted to him and the changes he’s brought better than I ever could have hopedfor. She was definitely meant to be a big sister. The other big change is Scarlett isin daycare full time. She has alsoadjusted to that really well. She lovesplaying with kids every day and she has really thrived on the schedule it hascreated. She also started out the yearas a Sunbeam, which meant no more play time at church, and 2 hours of classtime. That has been the hardest adjustmentfor her. She likes her teachers andloves the kids in her class, but for some reason she has never had an easy timeabout being left for those 2 hours. Shestill fights us when we try to leave and often cries. We thought as the year progressed it wouldget easier, but it really hasn’t. Ithink part of that is because we didn’t go to church regularly for a couplemonths because I was on bed rest and then the baby came and she was used togoing only to sacrament with Tyson or not at all if he was out of town. Now that he won’t be traveling as much and wehave a “real” schedule, I’m hoping next year won’t be as much of a fight. (Though 9am church next year is going to bereally hard on me.) The other big thingis Scarlett finally potty-trained. Itseems like we worked on it forever, but she finally got it. I think this last year was more “big” changesthan all her other years combined.

Scarlett is such an interesting little girl. She feels things very deeply. She’s very in tune to emotions, especially ofthose around her. I was upset and cryingone day and was sitting in my bedroom. She came to find me and saw me on the bed. She came over to me, wiped my tears and said“It’s ok. I know it’s hard. I love you.” It was such an amazing moment to hear those words come out of her mouthand know how sincere she was being. Sheis so full of love. She wants to kisseveryone goodbye, even her daycare provider and teachers at church. I think one other effect of her feelingthings so deeply is she also has quite the range of emotions herself. She goes from perfectly fine to sassy andmouthy in the blink of an eye. She crieswhen she thinks we’re mad at her, and gets visibly upset if she knows one of usis in pain. It’s like she has everyemotion but magnified.

Scarlett also has a fierce independent streak. We find ourselves being troubled by wantingto help that grow, but also being frustrated because she doesn’t understandthat she can’t do everything herself. Weendure battles all the time over changing her clothes, making her food, helpingwith Ollie, getting in and out of her car seat (including buckling andunbuckling), and a whole slew of other things. We have said from an early age that Scarlett is Tyson on the outside andme on the inside. I feel sorry thatTyson has to deal with two of us! I needto hit my parents up for tips on how to raise a child like me because shedrives me crazy some days with her independence and sass! Scarlett really is a good kid, though. She rarely tests boundaries like some kidsdo, she’s not manipulative or mean, and she rarely gets into mishaps that somany other kids her age do. She really issuch a sweet girl.

A few weeks ago Tys and Scarlett were playing and she saidthat she could do something herself because she was “a big girl now”. Tys said “Don’t get big. Stay little forever.” She replied, “But I have to get big. I need to be big like you guys.” It was just such a funny sentence andsentiment. With every birthday and everymilestone it hits me how fast she’s growing. Every year is bitter sweet. Ilove each stage as much as the previous and wish she’d stay in that stageforever. But I also long to see whoshe’ll grow into. I wonder if she’llalways be a daddy’s girl, if she’ll always love music, what things she’ll beinterested in, and if she’ll still think Ollie is her best friend as they grow. The more she grows the more I realize what adaunting task it is to be a parent. Yesit’s fun and equally hard, but I have to make sure this little person grows andcontributes to society in a positive way. I have to make sure that she gains a testimony and knows that her dadand I have one too. I have to teach herthe importance of so many things. I haveto live my life in a way that I’d be proud if she emulated me. I have a lot of work to do. The great thing about Scarlett, though, is Iknow she won’t make my job too hard. Sheis such a good girl with a kind heart.

Happy birthday, baby girl! We are so glad we’re your parents.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-31T08:32:00.000-06:00

Pretty much since pumpkins arrived in stores Scarlett has been telling me that she wants Tyson to carve her a Sleeping Beauty pumpkin. Last year we did Cinderella, so I guess she wanted to keep with the Princess theme. Luckily I found a Disney Princess template book at Target a few weeks ago. We finally got around to carving our pumpkins Friday night.

Tyson applying the template and tracing the Sleeping Beauty markings for carving.

Tyson bought two pumpkins and rather than carving both we decided to let Scarlett paint one. (Mostly to keep her occupied and away from the carving tools.)

At about this point Tyson decided the pumpkin was too thick to do Sleeping Beauty and wanted to do a regular jack-o-lantern. I told him to do whatever he wanted. There's a reason I'm not in charge of carving, and it's that I don't want to deal with that stuff.

Shortly after Scarlett started painting, her plate of ten colors quickly became one color - brown. She was having fun and that's all that matters.

Our finished products!

I always have grand ideas that we'll carve pumpkins early in the season, but reality eventually hits and we barely get them done by the end of the month so. It's a good thing Scarlett has no concept of a calendar and that she's easily pleased. I do like our classic jack-o-lantern though. And Scarlett's painted pumpkin is a mighty fine piece of art.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

6 Months Old

2011-10-29T08:06:00.000-06:00

Ollie is now 6 months old!

(Don't mind the scratch in his cheek and how red they are. The cold weather is really do a number on his cheeks. I guess cutting his nails once a week also isn't enough.)

Wow! Six months. It has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was holdinghim and his little bum could easily be cradled in the palm of my hand while heslept. Now he’s long, and wiggly anddeveloping a personality. Ollie is sucha good baby! He smiles for anyone andeveryone, rarely cries or fusses and is just so pleasant. Scarlett always had a hard time soothingherself to sleep (even now she’s not that great at actually getting herself togo to sleep), but Ollie is great. Hewill sleep almost anywhere and if we put him in his bed, he’s asleep withinminutes. If he’s not starving when hewakes up he just sits in his bed and plays with his hands and feet or coos tohimself. He started sleeping for aboutan 8-9 hour stretch at night again and I am SO grateful for that! (We've even occasionally gotten a 10 hour stretch!)

He’s working on rolling back and forthconsistently, eating more solids, sitting up and he continually finds new waysto use his voice. We also think teethingmay not be too far off based on the amount of drool and bubbles we see everyday. He’s giggling and laughing now andScarlett loves to try and make him laugh. We still think he might be our blond hair blue eyed boy, but not a toe-head and not a bright blue. He is definitely lighter than Scarlett ever was and I am just shocked that his hair is as light as it is considering how dark Tyson and I are. I think he looks a lot like my little brother Jake. I still think he is definitely more Carlson than he is Maughan, but we'll see as he continues to grow into his own look. We are so grateful for our pleasant little guy. He brings us so much joy and happiness. We are so glad he’s our little boy.