Look what I did!

I made the baby AND the dress- pretty cute work if I do say so myself. I'm in charge of a Relief Society craft night (for the record, I am terrible at being in charge of things) and for March we made pillowcase dresses. It was a lot of fun and once we got the hang of it, it wasn't hard either! It's now one of my favorite Ellie dresses and I want to make her another one for Easter. If only I could make something for Carter to match...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And yes, I know they both still have pacifiers. But look how cute they are, and they both sleep well so I'm not going to rock the boat. I'm a pretty casual Mom who knows when to pick her battles. Or a wimp, whatever...

Memory Lane

What a wonderful morning I've had! Ellie and Carter woke up at 7:15 this morning but Ellie went back down at 8:45, Carter has been playing independently or watching a show and I have been looking through old pictures for over 2 hours! My parents sent me two huge boxes that have giant folders filled with pictures and souvineers of each year of my life. I've only looked through 3 years worth and I can't stop smiling :). I love remembering the crazy things we siblings would do- shaving cream fights, playing in the rain, and the mud. And remembering people from my past whom I love and miss- The DeShazers for instance, and the Pattersons. I've also found some wonderful blackmail photos, my favorite being the picture of my brother Bryon after we had painted his face to look like a clown- complete with mascara. Mostly it was important for me to remember how much I loved growing up in my family. I love that I know they loved me, I was practically a mother to Breckon, McKenna and Briley and they made me feel important. I love that we did fun things- we bummed around Disneyworld and Florida for almost a month, we scuba certified and went camping! My parents provided us opportunities to live, serve, and laugh and documented it all with a plethera of photos. Thank you for that. And thank you for loving me even though I wore a variety of deplorable outfits throughout my life and my hair was disgustingly long (you guys kind of dropped the ball there)...

C is for Carter, and concussion

So on Saturday Carter received a giant bear hug from a friend that knocked him down hard onto the concrete. He cried quite a bit but we really didn't think anything of it. Sunday he seemed fine but then monday he was acting a little odd- he would fall asleep on the floor or his chair and he had no energy, he wouldn't eat much and he cried a lot. All VERY off behaviors for my child and yet I thought maybe he was just getting sick. When the behaviors continued on Tuesday I got worried. We figured, better safe then sorry and so Joe took Carter to the ER last night where he was such a trooper. He let them take his temperature, his pulse, touch his ouchie bump on his head and stayed very still through an entire catscan! Joe said he was so quiet and brave but often there would be little silent tears running down his cheeks. The catscan tech was very impressed that they didn't have to sedate our little munchkin. Apparently he had a little concussion and they call all of these symptoms part of post concussion syndrome. He's gonna be fine- but if he's anything like his Dad we are in for quite a few more trips to the ER in our future...

Celebrating Valentines in March

I got a tip from a gentleman at church to check out the Valentines candy clearance at CVS. So I checked it out today and was not disappointed. Do we need all this chocolatey sugary yumminess? No, but I got it all for $4!! I've got to hide it all from Carter and myself because we cannot be trusted to control ourselves...

Eating 101- What Not To Do...

Things I never let Carter eat until he was WELL over 1 but Ellie (10 months) has eaten...

--Churro at Costco

--McDonalds cheeseburger

--Soda (diet- does that make it worse or better?)

--Brownie & Chocolate Cake

Have I gone a little too lax in my parenting this go-round?

What They Are Doing...

Carter Taft
- He can reach the garage door opener on tippy-toes and open the garage, for some reason that made me sad. He's getting so big so fast...
-He is an amazing scooter-er! We move the furniture and set up a course inside (I use Joe's scooter) and he can lap me within three times around the course. He's super quick, can turn a corner on a dime and has little fear (so he HAS to wear a helmet at all times).
-Carter and I were SUPER sick on Wednesday and once when I had to excuse myself to go lose my lunch (or whatever I lost, I hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours), I came back to find Carter feeding Ellie her applesauce. What a helper.
-I discovered this week that he can, and wants to, get dressed all by himself. I know this should have come sooner but I stunt his growth so he will stay young and dependent on me :). Apparently it's not working...
-He can carry Elise, though I might add this is a super supervised activity :).

Ellie-Belly

-grabs my hand & pushes it away when I am sucking her nose, or feeding her yummy food that she doesn't like the texture of (I may have my first picky eater)

-her hair is finally growing, it's long enough to use a little elastic band!

-she has learned to clap. It's adorable to watch them try to get those hands together and miss but then to have sweet success and flash a giant grin :).

-she can drink out of a sippy cup like a champ. As a side note, Carter weaned himself at this age but Ellie is still going strong in the nursing department.

-she crawled her first few paces yesterday, though she then flattened out on the floor and resorted to reaching. My kiddos are a little slow in this area and while it worried me with Carter, with Ellie I don't mind a bit because I know how much harder life is with a mobile child. Which reminds me we should probably go buy gates today...

-she is the best waker-upper I have ever seen. She smiles, plays peekaboo, laughs for no apparent reason and pats my back rigorously when I first get her out of bed.

Here is a rare picture of me and my munchkins. So now people can know that yes, my children do have a mother...

Unconventional

I am one of those wierdie, unconventional mothers who genuinely enjoys hanging out with a three and almost one year old- over almost anyone else. Sure there are days I want to take a time-out from being a Mom but for the most part I just love their company, conversation, zerberts and smiles. I'm a closet Raffi fan. And Laurie Berkners music cracks me up. I could count all the times I've listened to adult music in the car in the last three years on one hand- but that works for me. I'm not ready to send Carter to preschool, especially not four days a week. When he's four I only want to do 2 or 3 days. And I'm not sending him to all day kindergarten. There ought to be a half-day option. I have thought about home-schooling but I'm honest enough with myself to know that I couldn't or wouldn't be able to give them the experiences they would need to truly excel academically. By the way, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with having your kids in preschool either, what's right for one family or child isn't right for another and I know we all just have to do what is best for our own kids and not have to worry about other parents passing judgement on us. Another confession- I want to have another baby and Elise is only 10 months old (though I am smart enough to realize my body needs to be in a better place first :). Thanks for reading this very jumbled cofessional, I just felt like getting these thoughts off my chest. I wonder if there are any Amish communities nearby- seems like they're onto something there...

Seriously- who can resist these giggles...