snuggle bug

such a snuggle bug. love this big time.

especially on a day when we get two inches of snow..... and no, tomorrow is not december 1st, but may 1st. sigh. we put on some gloves and played in the snow this morning. didn't last long, but did it, just to say we did. 

can i just tell you how fun this stage with claire is? she is understanding pretend, babies, princesses, and imagining. she comes up with crazy things to tell us about, and loves to play with her babies. she sometimes has quite the temper, but usually only when she has way surpassed the tired mark. she wants to do things with me, and i keep having to remind myself that this will not last forever, so i drop whatever i am doing and just play. she is a total sweetheart, and loves to share her m&ms she earns for going potty. and feed her dollies. my heart melts when she does this.

miss claire is super talkative (well, i guess she always has been) now, and i have had a huge relief- i understand most everything she says, when sometimes other people don't. growing up, i always got worried when i would babysit and not understand what the kids were saying, and the parents would have to explain what they meant. but i understand! and i have to giggle, because sometimes i think she sounds a little British. 

speaking of British, how much did you love kate's dress? oh i loved it. it. was. perfect. i didn't care to see much else, but her dress, oh that dress! so timeless. classy. elegant. i could watch her walk down the aisle again and again. just to see the dress. and drool...... but as i told my mom this morning, poor girl, her husband is already balding!

and now, i wish for a sunnier tomorrow. may 1st, will you please bring some sunshine? i don't want to wait three weeks until st. louis to enjoy.  

in your face

i love this kid. so much. but he is in my face all stinking day long. totally a momma's boy.

like literally, tries to eat my chin, nose, cheek, and sticks his hands in my mouth. this is from him:

a2q3 y,

his snot bubble popped three milliseconds before this took. thank goodness. poor guy. but he is now officially a tummy sleeper, no more swaddling. yay and boo, i love rocking and watching my kids sleep, but its for the better, in the long run (right???) that he learn to sleep on his own, and he has made it very clear that this is what he wants. no holding when he goes to sleep, just put him down. which is why there are still a dozen eggs sitting in dye on my counter. because he wants to play.

no worries. we just did them this morning..... three days late. what difference does claire know? none. exactly.

seriously lacking

been trying my danged hardest to not complain about spring in utah. it is spring. there are blossoms on the trees. i can see everything around me trying to pop out and greet the sun.

but silly weather threw some snow our way this morning.

each week, i have to wait one more week to plant some veggies. one more week and that will be the last freeze, and tomatoes are good to go. just one more week.

and as of april 26th, i am almost out of hope. i just want to curl up and sleep til its warm outside. i made a huge pot of chili, took the hottest bath i could last night, put sweats on and piled under blankets, and dreamed the dreary away. i keep hearing about all this hot weather in houston, where my parents are moving to, and i am getting tempted to join them.

i have no desire to jump in puddles. i want a pool. to jump in the pool.

and so, i lack all motivation to do anything. it took everything i had to start the dishwasher, seven hours after it needed to be started. ugh. next week? will my sun come next week? i sure hope so. because any longer and my house might revolt.

*********

and i need help! what is your go-to meal to take to a just-had-a-baby family? we've had too many babies in our ward the last few months and i'm tired of chicken and rice/hawaiian haystacks. what did you want after having a baby?

got my wish

for a munchkin to be a tummy sleeper and stick his bum in the air. yum. who doesn't love that?

random. plus life.

claire is learning how to talk on the phone more and more, and makes daily phone calls on various phones. her fave is grandpa, i'm not sure why, but i think he likes knowing she is always thinking of him.

its been a crazy busy, and very fun week/weekend. joe's mom, yaya, was able to come and visit for just a couple of days, and despite her worry that the kids wouldn't take to her, they adored her. claire almost instantly went to her, and soon had her playing and pretending as if they do it every day. bubba got to have yaya put him down for sleep a few times, and got lots of lovin' and snuggling, when he wasn't crawling around everywhere and finding things to pull himself up with. the trip was really, really too short! camera, once again, is m.i.a. so we need to get pictures from yaya, but she was here!

joe has been working, working and working some more. we are constantly sending 'i miss you' texts back and forth. sad. but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? 

our biggest news? claire is pretty much potty trained! we've really made a breakthrough this week, so relieved. i say mostly, because she will ONLY go on her potty. so.... mostly. we'll see about going elsewhere. not sure what to do about church tomorrow?

she has also taken up trying to be the new boss around the house. she will try and put me in time-out several times a day, for basically whatever she thinks i deserve. ha- i have yet to fulfill one, but she is convinced that she can tell me what to do. not so my little bug!

caleb crawling is the other big news. nothing is safe anymore! but he usually uses his new ability to come to me and crawl into my lap, over and over again. he is becoming quite the mommy's boy, which i love but is also tiring sometimes. claire was NEVER this way, never needed mommy, totally miss independent. bubba needs me all. day. long. and night. i am thinking he only needs one nap a day now, which I am not ready for, but might be the case. little man is growing up too much!

now that our visit from yaya is over (so sad!), we are looking forward to a few things: going to st. louis next month for one last visit before my parents move to houston. bittersweet for sure, but life moves on. my little sister, and the baby, is graduating high school and is going to come live with us for a couple months. it'll be so fun! she'll be here to watch the kids while i go to girl's camp. oh girl's camp. i'm in charge! yikes. so many things that are 'different' than what i am used to, and i've unfortunately done some complaining, but spending some quality time with some awesome girls is something i'm really looking forward to! it'll all work out. getting ready for a garden- maybe the weatherman will give the go-ahead and say there won't be another freeze? every week i get my hopes up, and then let down. and the pool- so looking forward to getting out of the house, getting sunglasses, swimsuits and sunscreen on, and playing all day long. way too many teaser days lately! 

ramble, ramble. no pictures, so kinda lame. and the hair decision, i think you all have me convinced- short is the way to go for now. i'm a little sad, because i love my hair long, but the time saving is really important right now. so that's that. 

little rant

its sunday, so maaaaybe i should be more uplifting, but i just gotta get this out.

let me just first say that i am a freak about being on time. like if i was ocd about anything, its about being on time for everything. i don't care what it is. my motto is if you are on time, you are late, because i hate (almost as much as spiders) being late. it drives me up the wall and gives me anxiety. like really bad. sweaty hands, heart racing, i start panicking, yelling at everyone else, you get the picture. like was the first person to get to seminary at 6:13 for two years (when i was driving) straight. 

so.... when the chain reaction of everyone's classes getting out late at church happens, i kind of freak out. like when sacrament meeting runs over, then sunday school runs over, then relief society runs over... well it all kind makes me batty. (this is because everyone has to say everything that they want to say, because their meeting is the most important meeting in church. of course.) because then i end being that obnoxious parent that doesn't come and get their kid out of nursery until everyone else is gone and the leaders are sitting there just waiting, and my kid is bouncing off the wall. i HATE being that person. 

anyways... everyone has their thing, right? my is being on time. it drives me crazy. so when there is a perfect opportunity for each meeting to go on time, and then ONE meeting runs more than a little late causing the meeting i REALLY need to be on time to start has to start late, i am a little put out. i really, really wish i could change how i am about this, but i really just can't. but i'm working on at least trying to cool it.

so... if you are ever the victim of one of my freak out moments because something is happening late, i sincerely apologize. 

how about a story?

i am so, so embarrassed. 

but i am sharing this because it is so, so funny.

set the stage, shall we? i keep going back and forth with potty training claire. i just need to do it. today was the day to do it. she had been doing awesome- telling me she needed to go, pulling down her pants and running to the bathroom all day. joe was home, babies sleeping and playing quietly, so i thought i would take claire and run around for a minute while we go to the church so we can make some copies. no biggie, right?

grab the keys, claire and the needed copies and walk, because its a nice day and our church is two seconds away. claire was loving it. i get into the building, into the materials center, put stuff down, get claire to stop doing whatever, put paper in machine, turn to check on claire and she is peeing all. over. the. place. in the freshly deep cleaned church, mind you. 

it gets better.

i run to the bathroom as fast as i can, grab paper towels, get some wet, some dry, extra for claire, and run back and watch claire slam the door. the locked door. with the keys inside, one of her shoes, my copies, and pee soaking into the floor. awesome.

i start to panic. no phone, no car, dripping wet girl, no phone.... ah! phone in the lobby on the other side. call joe, and beg him to help me out, while he is dealing with the two now screaming babies at home. get claire cleaned up, find some toys to play with while we wait, and hold wet pants over blowing heater vent to dry. joe calls back- no one will answer their phones to come rescue me! i tried jiggling the lock, no luck.

it gets even better.

we wandered around for a while, trying to keep claire occupied while we wait to see if joe got ahold of anyone. suddenly claire does the crosses-legs-holds-crotch-and-panicked-face and tells me she needs to go pee-pee. claire only goes in her potty. ONLY. i tried to get her to go in the bathroom, she wouldn't even look at it. i called joe seven times trying to see where he was at. i was almost to the point where i was going to take her outside so she could leak on the grass, but she managed to hold it.

finally joe rushes in, unlocks the door with that look on his face, and gets back to the other screaming kids. get claire in the diaper he brought, get the pee cleaned up, and claire settled. okay. back to square one. paper is in the tray....

and the copier. won't. copy. 

absolutely refused. wouldn't budge. sneered at me even. error message, after error message, after error message. so great, huh? 

hoping your day was a little better than mine! at least you have something to laugh at, because it didn't happen to you!

hanging with the crazies

today i was thinking about how much i missed my kids, and they were sitting right there. i wanted to just squeeze them and kiss their chubby cheeks and hold them for hours after they fell asleep. they frustrate the heck out of me every once in a while, but it makes me love them even more.

saturday i spent some time with lindsay without the kiddos, and intended to go to the store before going home (since going without kids is such a luxury) but had some other things on my mind and completely forgot. after getting home, i let joe nap for a bit with the bubbers and brought claire to the store with me, since she was in a really, really good mood. i am so, so glad i did. the lucky girl got a balloon, and i am here to tell you, listening to her giggle in the car on the way home made me so, so happy i shed a little tear. something so simple made her so happy, it was like christmas morning happy. 

some days are really hard. some days joe leaves before i get up, and then he is home hours and hours after i want to go to bed. some days i wonder what the heck i am doing, this is not how i imagined things. but a moment like that made it worth it, a thousand times over. for 100 horrible, awful, exhausting, embarrassing, dreadful trips to the grocery store with screaming kids, i will take that one trip just to hear her laugh and giggle and smile like that again. 

feel free to give opinions about the hair still. (thanks for all the comments! keep them coming!)

decisions decisions

i just can't decide. ugh there are so many other important things going on in this world (like keeping bubba from walking. almost crawling but tries to pull up on things...) but i feel like i am at a point where i need to decide.

i need to decide if the next hair cut will be one to keep my current cut and freshen it up, or cut so i won't grow out weird. so we are familiar:

keep the hair short.

pros: really, really easy to do. takes five minutes. makes me look older/younger. (i've heard both. basically no one can tell my age. especially when i stand next to my sister.)

cons: only so many things to do with it. can't pull it all back. i miss long hair.

or let it grow back out.

pros: keeps me young (? or older? not sure...) so many things to do with it. i think it looks good? i miss it.

cons: takes forever to do, lots of maintenance. will take about three-four years to grow out.

i just don't know. so i need someone to tell me. my husband thinks its hot either way. (so long as its not a funky-weird short). he is of no help.

i sometimes think i look a little boyish with it this short. probably because i have ALWAYS felt i look a little boyish, thanks to always hearing that everyone (minus lindsay) thought i was going to be a boy before i was born. so i usually kept it long. but i have been loving the quick and easy lately.

anyways. someone give me opinion. insight. please? all thoughts that have ever come my way is that it looks good both ways... family, friends, and several hair stylists. no one will tell me i am a long hair or short hair person. are they just being nice? maybe it does look good both ways? does it not? makes me look too old? too young? keep in mind... i am only 23. with two kids. so i don't really know that anything is exactly appropriate, but maybe i don't want to look older than my sister who is 4 years older than me. ugh i don't know. someone else decide.

yoga master

as much as everyone loves bob on the biggest loser, i really don't think that joe would like it if little man turned into him. i think joe finds yoga a bit un-manly.... not girly, just nor manly enough.

for the g-pas

and i guess for anyone else who cares that bubbers is this close to crawling. it is so stinking funny to me to watch him try all day. he won't just sit anymore because he wants to get places. love it. see pictures below.

before we get to those, perhaps others might think this picture is funny? this morning's carpet cleanup was powdered sugar and before i got a chance to clean it all up, you-know-who (no, not voldy susan!) was rolling around in it. he thought it was funny.




he also does this back-scooting thing all day long. before he started to try and crawl this is what he was doing, and sometimes he gets his back and bum all the way up so hes on his head and feet. hard to snap a pic of it, but hes cute anyways.

furby sandwich

furby smooshed in a book.

claire is on a rampage to destroy my house. or me.

flour, powdered sugar, poo, pee, laundry detergent, milk, juice, cereal in several varieties, and dry rice have all been smashed into the carpet in the last week. i don't know that my vacuum can hold up much longer. ugh.

another doughnut kind of morning

rough night last night. not sure why... both kids were EXHAUSTED when they went to bed, but were kind of restless. at one point, while trying to ignore the crying, joe tells me how hungry he was. then he asked if we were going to get doughnuts this morning, because today is day 1 of general conference. what he was doing thinking about doughnuts at 3:30 in the morning, i don't know. i think i just ignored it, because he never heard the response, which in me head was "what are you thinking about that for?!?!"

so when we couldn't put off getting up any longer, we headed out. i particularly love claire's outfit- owl jammies, fuzzy vest, and sparkly shoes. awesome. i haven't laughed this hard at the pictures my daughter takes in a long while.

not sure about whats going to happen... something about sprinkles?

what is going on?

yum mommy!

i promise she is normal.

this is lame. i get nothing?

shoved it all in

exhausted. but love the sugar first thing in the morning.

shockingly, she loved the hat. kept it on forever.

the end.

hope you are all enjoying watching/listening to general conference. claire is a crazy girl making it kind of hard, but we are trying. i love just being home together and talking, playing, eating and listening. happy weekend.