We're back!

We are back from vacation. We (the kids and I) spent the last month with our family so that David could stay here and study for his boards. It was a blast, but man does it feel good to be home! Lots to report soon to come!!!

Benson likes cereal!

Benson got his first taste of rice cereal this week. To say he loves it would be an understatement! He can't get enough of this stuff! We also moved him into his crib in is own room. He has started sleeping through the night or only waking up once. I know most moms pray for this day, but I am actually really sad. I really actually love to nurse during the night. I love to have Benson's little body snuggled up to mine and to cuddle with him in the quiet night time hours. Benson also said his first word this week. It is bo-bo-bo-bo-bo. I know most of you probably say that isn't a word, but in our house it is. The day I brought Benson home from the hospital I was nursing him on my bed. Gracie followed me into my room and said to me (in a very shocked voice), "Mom! What are you doing?"
Me: "I am nursing our baby."
Gracie: "But Mom! What are you doing with your bo-bo?"
What can I say. The way to a man's (or boy's) heart is through his stomach. I kind of feel like him saying bo-bo is kind of like him saying ma-ma. I know he doesn't really even know what he is saying, but I still feel kind of like the cat's meow when he says it!

Broken Toes

I broke two of my toes the day before yesterday. Aren't they a lovely shade of blue and purple? They hurt. I can't excersize which means I am not going to win the biggest loser contest I am in. :( Look how fat and gross they are!!!

D.C. or bust!

We went to Washington D.C. the weekend before last. It was AWESOME! Here are some of the pictures from our trip (in no specific order).

Recognize this guy? I have to say even though it was really crowded (Easter weekend and the end of the cherry blossom festival) seeing the monuments was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We went to a couple of museums and I didn't really enjoy those at all. They were so crowded that you couldn't really see anything.

The Jefferson Monument. We didn't get up close to this one, just saw it from across the pond.

The Washington Monument (and some of the cherry blossoms).

Gracie LOVING the hotel! She asks me just about every day now if we can go to another hotel. She loved the pool and the "TV with cartoons on it all the time!"

David in the pool with the kids. They thought this was better than anything we saw in Washington DC. Unfortunately, Sammy threw up... in the pool... just a few minutes later. Yes, I am THAT parent. The one whose child throws up in the pool and makes it so no one can swim. GROSS!

The fam!

The flag pole. Who knew it was also a climbing toy?

The Capital from the middle of the street. We stopped right in the middle to take pictures.

Sammy's preferred place to ride.

Gracie at the aquarium.

Don't you think David and his brothers have good jeans? I mean genes. Having David's brothers and their families there with us made the vacation so much more fun!

Sammy looking at the turtle in the aquarium. He LOVED the turtle!

The White House where David's best pal lives.

The other (and better) White House. The DC temple is absolutely beautiful! This was my most favoritest part of the trip!

Sammy on the temple grounds.

When we first drove into DC it was dark and as we were driving down the freeway all of a sudden the temple spires were there in front of us, beautiful and white in the dark sky! The Spirit that I felt just looking at that beautiful building sent tingles down my arms. It was so amazing! It was a great trip and we had so much fun. I can't wait for the next family vacation!

Caught in the act!

Yep. We officially have a thumb sucker. It is really really cute... now how do I get him to stop!?!?

TRULY INSPIRING!

Smooch-o-rama!

So Gracie was in the tub playing with some plastic play food toys. I was doing something in another room in the house. When I came in to check on her her lips looked like this. I started panicking. I called my mom. "Mom, there is something wrong with Gracie's face. Her lips are HUGE and kind of purple!" We went through all the possible causes we could think of. I gave her Benedryl in case it was an allergic reaction to something. I watched her to make sure she could breath. I asked her if she had bumped her mouth on something. I couldn't figure out what was wrong! I just watched her to make sure she was ok. 2 days later in the tub I caught her putting a plastic ice cream cone on her mouth and sucking on it. She was giving herself the hugest hicky ever on her face. You should know, people in my family do NOT have plump voluptuous lips. Those lip plumping lipsticks were invented for people like us. No one would ever guess that by looking at Gracie in these pictures.

St. Patty's Day Randomness

(Read in an Irish Accent)
May those who will be ar' friends, be ar' friends.
And those who will not be ar' friends, well, may thar hearts be tarned (turned).
And if their hearts will not be tarned, may thar ankles be tarned that we may know them by thar limpin'.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all those a wearin' o' the green!

We found all of our milk dyed GREEN today. When I told Gracie that it must have been a Leprechaun she told me, "I have seen lepers before. At the zoo!" I don't know if she meant lemurs or leopards, but she was very insistent that they were lepers.


Here is a link to an Irish recipe I am going to try out today to go along with our corned beef (and for all of you out there participating in the "biggest loser" with me, no this is not a low fat recipe, but you can be sure I will be working out extra hard tonight to work it off!).

Hope you all have a lucky St. Patrick's Day!

The Rugrats

Weeds!

Well, the kids are growing like weeds! I took the kids to the doctor today for their well visits. Ironically none of them was well enough to get shots (they were pretty happy about this) but they have to go back in two weeks (Boo!). They really are SO BIG! Just wait until you see their stats.

Gracie
Age: 4 years and 4 months
Height: 3 ft 8.5 in= 97%
Weight: 44 lbs. = 89%

Sammy
Age: 2 years and 1 month
Height: 3 ft = 85%
Weight: 31 lbs. 79%

Benson
Age: 4.5 months
Height: 27 in= 94%
Weight: 19.4 lbs. = 97%
Head Circumference: 17.5 in= 90%

Gracie also passed her hearing and sight tests. She also sang her ABC's at the top of her lungs while we were waiting for the doctor. The doctor mentioned that he had heard her from outside the room we were waiting in. Do you think he was hinting to me to try to get her to be quieter? Benson just sat there and smiled at the nurse and doctor. Sammy threw the hugest temper tantrum. I am sure all of the other patients in the office thought someone was being tortured by the sound of his screams. Nobody would have guessed that he simply didn't want the doctor to listen to his heart. Or look in his ears. Or eyes. Or actually touch him at all for that matter. I know he just didn't feel good. On a happier note, while we were waiting for the doctor to call us back Sammy was running around and saw the bathroom. He said, " Potty Mommy-ommy, potty." I took him in and helped he get on the big potty. He piddled!!!! The tiniest teeniest little piddle I have ever seen, but still he did it! Then he tooted (yes we call them toots at our house)! Twice! Yay! Two funny things about that... I left the door open in the bathroom. Benson was asleep in his car seat right outside the door and Gracie was doing a puzzle on the floor about 3 yards away. The bathroom was pretty small. I could have crowded us all in there, but it really would have been crowded. Sammy's toots weren't little. They were big looooong ones. I was kind of embarrassed. I am SURE everyone in the waiting room heard. And it just dawned on me that I took Sammy potty in the MENS bathroom. Oops. It was the bathroom that Sammy saw and the one he picked, but I didn't even think about the fact that it was the mens room until about 5 minutes ago. Oh well. It was the first time I have taken the kids all to the doctor together by myself. It was hard, but we made it. I am smiling right now to know that I am a tough enough mommy to handle it.

The sweetest words...

Sammy has started calling me "Mommy-ommy." I don't really know why, but it makes me happy all he way down to my toes when he does that. I just love being a mom.

He also tells me, "Mommy, I sad" whenever something happens that, well, makes him sad. We dropped his sister and daddy off at the dentist today. Sammy was heartbroken when they left without him. He sat in the back seat just crying and saying over and over, "I sad!" I turned Cars on David's ipod so he would be happy. Cars fixes everything.

It's Sammy's birthday!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's your birthday today Sammy. You are two years old! You are such a sweet boy and so easy to love.

You love love love Lightening McQueen and your family.
You don't like vegetables except brocolli which you call "Trees" and potatoes.
You love to tease especially your mother!
You don't like the vaccuum or the blow dryer.
You love piggy back rides.
You don't like to wear your pants or diaper, you take them off and run around without them ALL the time!
You love to cuddle and drink milk in the mornings.
You don't like getting buckled into your carseat.
You love to get your picture taken and call camera's "cheese."
You don't like sharing your mommy when you are sad.
You love running, jumping, playing with your sister, holding your brother, all babies, balls, cars, movies, cookies, crackers, pizza, candy, cows, birds, dogs, music, dancing and many many other things.

You have a happy sensitive spirit and I am so glad you are part of our family! Love you.

Crazy Chicken

Lately Gracie thinks everything is silly, funny, crazy, nuts, or weird. After she told me today that I was nuts and that avacados made her weird, I told her she was crazy. Her response was, "I am not crazy. I didn't make a chicken." ?????????

A few more hair pictures...

I just had to add a few more of Gracie's hair pictures because I was so well pleased with how they turned out. I love this girl and her beautiful red hair!

Chubby Boy

Here are some more pictures of my chubby little man Benson. He just hit (around) 18 pounds and is almost 4 months old. He is so so sweet and so so happy. I just can't get enough of him, but I have to admit, lugging him around everywhere does make my back hurt a little!

Cute hair!

Valentine's Day Hearts

Lacing

So a few of you have asked me how I do Gracie's hair. I learned everything I know from She Does Hair and other blogs like hers. Only her hair-dos are a thousand times better than any of mine ever turn out. But she has tutorials for different hair-do's (including baby hair) and what products she uses to make them stay. Gracie doesn't love to have her hair done, and sometimes we both end up frustrated by the time we are done, but she does request some of these hairstyles again many times after I have done them. And it is some fun mommy-daughter time while it is getting done.

A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y, and sometimes R

We put Sammy in the tub a few days ago. He had been dragging his "ay-ee" around all morning and he dragged it into the bathroom when we told him he had to take a bath. David took the blanket and set it on the floor, but as soon as we turned our backs Sammy reached out and snatched up his blanket and pulled it into the tub with him. We heard him saying "Ay-ee, Ay-ee" and raced back to him. He just looked up at us and smiled. When we got out the camera to take a picture he smiled even bigger and said without promting, "Cheese!" I have said before how he is learning new words every day, but the funny thing about it is that when he asks for almost all of his favorite things he doesn't use any consonants. He almost always wants an "aa-er" (cracker), "ii-er" (sticker), "oo-ie" (cookie), or his "ay-ee" (blankie). And we can understand him just fine. Who knew consonants were optional in the English language?
I have to say this age is one of my favorites, when little kids are discovering so much about the world around them and yes getting into a lot of trouble in the process. In a couple of weeks Sammy will turn TWO!

I was teasing Sammy a couple of days ago. He carries a couple of Lightening McQeen cars around with him at ALL times. I took one of them and put it in my mouth. He seriously was about to cry. He pretty much has his mom figured out. All he has to do is stick out this big ol' lip and I just melt.
I am sorry Sammy. You can have Lightening McQueen back.