What Real Life Is Like

 What do all of these pictures have in common?

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You probably guess it...this little gal!

We've had some very frustrating moments with this little lady.  

Incident number 1: was with the fingernail polish...luckily that one is easy to smell and quickly know that something is not right.  I went downstairs to find Addy and her friend painting the barbie house.  

Incident number 2:  notice the strawberry toothpaste in the picture and the almost empty bottle of body wash.  Well that soap bottle was nearly full before the same duo decided to clean the play dishes and make potions once again in the basement.  This time I could hear them playing and thought they were getting along so well.  Then Mitch stopped in before an appointment here in town and went downstairs and saw the water in the play kitchen sink. As he looked around some more he noticed bowls filled with different mixtures involving soap and toothpaste. It was a mess that motivated us to clean our carpets!

Incident number 3: Earlier in the spring Addy found a little crack in the paint on the front door and started pulling and picking at it.  To her surprise it started pulling off in huge chunks.  So I ended up stripping all the paint off the door and repainting and priming.  It was a long process.  Well it happened again!  Imagine my surprise/irritation to find another chunk of paint missing from the door.  It still makes my blood boil a little bit!

Incident number 4:  Notice the picture with the shoes, how one only has two straps.  I wonder how that happened? Oh the same way the shorts have a little cut out of the bottom.  Scissors. 

It has been such an eventful couple of weeks with lots of yelling and hair pulling(only from my own head).  So I decided it was time to pull out the big guns and I remembered this book we'd been given and started reading it.  I haven't gotten very far but I am really trying to be a more consistent parent when it comes to discipline.  Also I've stopped getting so mad because I realized that gave her the attention she wanted. 

I always thought I was a pretty patient person..hahaha...turns out I was way wrong about that! I just had never really had my patience tested before. 

Shots

 Our little mr. got his shots a couple weeks ago and like most kids, wasn't too thrilled about it.  He was so happy and smily all through his appointment and then bam...those shots came and he was not what we'd call a happy fellow.  He fell asleep soon after we left and seriously slept so much the rest of the day.  I was so worried that he would be awake through the night but he just kept on sleeping, only waking up to eat. Thankfully, he was back to his normal self by the next day.

he loves to clasp his hands together

just a little bit of crankiness

but i was still able to coax a little grin out!

While at our checkup I asked the doctor about his crazy-turned-under feet.  He took a look at them and decided to refer us to an orthopedic to have them take a look.  Luckily, he doesn't have club feet but they definitely aren't flat like they should be.

Two Months

I just love this precious little boy.  He is growing so fast and I am just trying to soak it all up. We are starting to get a few more smiles. Most of them come in the morning or whenever he wakes up from a good nap.  Sleep and a full belly make most of us happy and it is the same for him.  

He is now 11 lbs 6 oz (40%) and is 23.5 inches (69%).  That means he has grown about 4 inches in 7 weeks.  When he lays on the floor, he loves to stretch those legs all the way out. We get lots of comments about how alert he is. He just has big eyes and loves to stares at faces. I also have lots of people tell me that he looks all boy.  Thankfully he is one or we would be in trouble!

He also loves his hands especially when they are in his mouth. Once again I have a baby that doesn't love a binky but I think it just gets in the way for everything else he wants in his mouth. Blowing bubbles is his new favorite thing. My favorite is when I talk to him and he stares right at my mouth and coos back.  It melts my heart.

We still practice with tummy time but it is tough because he really does like to sleep on his belly so there isn't much exercise or muscle strengthening happening.

For the most part he is a pretty content little guy.  He loves the swing just like addy did. I love it because I can get a few things done while he naps (like catch up on blogs). 

He still has moments of sadness.  These are usually when hungry or tired or when sister accidentally 

plays a little rough.

With a little distraction...

He is back to smiles.

And that's all folks!

Drive-In

Once each summer our local drive-in does a kids double feature.  We went last year and kept waiting for them to do it again this year because it was so fun.  Well, this past week they were showing 'Planes' and then 'Despicable Me 2' which was totally great because we hadn't seen either of those yet.  

We love snuggling all together in the back of the truck and eating treats while staying up super late!

the BEST helper

She volunteers for this job and is pretty good at it too!

Rigby Lake

Thanks to my cousin inviting us to tag along, we got another thing crossed off our summer list.  We love being spontaneous so when they texted to let us know they were headed to Rigby lake for the day, we quickly decided to join in the fun.  We borrowed a few tubes and packed up the sand toys and headed out for the day.  It was fun for Addy to have kids to play with, while us adults visited in the shade.  Mitch even got a nice nap while holding Brayden, which meant I got to float around a little on the tube and help Addy build an awesome sand castle.  I'd say it was a pretty great day!

Baby talk

We have a little "talker" on our hands and it is the cutest thing ever!

I wish I was faster with the video camera but at least I caught a few pictures.

Outdoor Movie

The other night we hosted a backyard movie and invited several neighbors.  It was fun to see the kids getting excited and snuggling with their blankets.  Brayden fell asleep at the beginning of the movie which was awesome and Addy ended up falling asleep towards the end of the movie but most everyone else stayed awake!

Two-Wheeler

This girl was so ready physically to get the training wheels off her bike. She would zip all over the neighborhood. Only problem was she was afraid of falling off the bike once we took the training wheels off. We'd been talking about it for awhile so one evening when Mitch got home from work, he went and took them off and told her if she didn't like it he would put them back on.  I was busy feeding the baby so it took me a few minutes to go out and watch.  By the time I got out there she was doing amazing but still wouldn't let Mitch let go because she was afraid, even though she was totally doing it on her own.  It took Mitch finally telling her that if she fell he would buy her ice cream and him promising to not let go unless she said (she really likes having control of most things).  The next time they went across the parking lot she let him let go and was off. It took maybe 10 minutes total to teach her to ride the bike.  Now she is once again zipping around the neighborhood and telling everyone that we meet (even the little old lady walking around the park) that she can ride a two-wheeler.  She is so proud of herself.  My favorite is that we can all go on bike rides together and it is so fun! 

Oh and we still went for ice cream to celebrate even though she never fell off.

Rexburg Rapids

We finally made it out to the water park this summer.  It was one of the things on the list and the best part was we didn't even have to pay!  The stake had reserved it for the youth and leaders and then invited all their families to come as well.  It was fun but next year will be even funner because we will all be able to swim instead of me just sitting and holding the baby.  We did dunk his feet in the water and he only screamed for a few seconds and then was fine once he got used to the change of temperature.

Addy still loved the lazy river and really wants/needs to learn how to swim so she can do the slides like the bigger kids!  She just wants to grow up so fast and do everything on her own.