Two kids

Well, I think having two kids is definitely harder than one. I used to play with Ada in the morning, work while she napped and ran errands with her after work... then we'd hang out with Jer and family. Now it's... stay up at night with the baby, wake up with the baby, try to get Ada to play by herself while I get ready for the day... play with Ada, feed the hungry baby, load the dishwasher with one hand while Ada eats lunch... she takes a nap while I feed him again and try to get him to go to bed so that I can get some of my work done (I haven't gotten in trouble with my boss yet... thank goodness I work for my dad!), run errands just to get Ada and I out of the house, crash in front of the tv for a minute, feed a hungry baby, get Jer to help me clean up the messes that Ada made during the day before we put her to bed for the night, feed the baby and read with Jer before we go to bed. Somewhere in there we have to fit in changing 2 kids diapers a couple times a day, making dinner if I get around to it, trying to catch up on my piano students so I'm ready next time they come, do 3 callings for church, exercise, bathe the kids, finish all the projects I started a year ago, and sleep. Let's just say that I don't feel like the house has to be as clean as it once was or that I have as much time for friends. In fact the friends that I see the most are the ones that have kids Ada's age so that she can play with someone other than mom. Fun.

Vain Repetition

I usually like to write about my kids, but I just had a thought during our lesson at church about prayer. They were talking about avoiding vain repetition during prayers and they kept using examples of when you're tired or busy and say the same kind of unthinking prayer that you've said a million times... I think it could also mean those times when you pray and the answer is "no"... but you keep praying for it... I think that would also be a vain repetition.

It's just not fair...

It's Saturday and also the day that we try to get all the house work done. Our windows have been extremely filthy and I really haven't had time to do them... so I decided to make that my priority... take out all the screens and wash both them and the windows inside and out. And after all my hard work I woke up to find that I hadn't even started it yet! Dang it all!

Competition

I need to just say that I hate competition period... It doesn't matter what it's in, I think that just the principle of it is against the plan of salvation. It also promotes those people that participate in them to only really respect those that are top ranked... even if they continue to give praise to those that are not, they don't really respect or love those that are not. For example... the commentator at the last marathon that I went to... All of the top ranked people that came in, he made sure that the crowd cheered for them a ton and the last of the 1/2 marathoners coming he would say things like "You made it, that's the important thing." I think I'd rather come in to no comment than to something like that. It also causes the people that participate in it to only talk about it rather than life. I think I'd rather talk about life.

Now I used to fence and I loved it! I didn't do it to compete... I did it because I enjoyed it... there were no commentators, and no one looking down on me. I even qualified third in the region which ranked me for the Junior Olympics... That is where I felt the other competitors were jerks and judged you by how you performed. I didn't care if I came in last, I just wanted to fence... and there aren't many fencers in Utah County... or at least there weren't when I was fencing.

Nap time

I left Ada with Jer while I went to my follow up doctors appointment... She usually eats lunch at noon and then takes a nap... at 11:30 he calls me to tell me that she'd wondered off somewhere and he had to spend forever looking for her... when he found her she had gone into her bedroom, closed the door, and fallen asleep on her bed. She really must have needed a nap because it was more than twice as long as it usually is!

And on a side note, we got a new nephew today. James Rockwell was 7 lbs 11 ozs and is a healthy boy that I hope we get to meet tomorrow.

Baby smiles

I have to say that I absolutely love when babies start smiling. Sammy will just sit and watch you, then you say hi to him and he just grins! I don't have a picture but here are two from yesterday...

Thank goodness for being old enough to understand!

So... this is kind of ironic... it happened because she's so little and doesn't always listen to what you tell her, but because she's old enough to understand what you tell her we were able to get her out of it.

Ada and her friend Lizzie were playing in our downstairs bathroom. They like to hide in the shower curtain and say boo whenever people come by... Lizzie came out and was playing with her mom when we heard a big crash and Ada start crying. Ada had somehow knocked over the ironing board that we were storing in there and it had wedged itself across the room and against the door. The hinges were on her side of the door and the window is one of those tiny bathroom ones that are only meant for ventilating the room. Mary and I could only get the door to open a couple of inches by both of us pushing on it... but that got it to the point that Ada could reach the legs of the ironing board and lift them. If she hadn't have done that when she was told, I don't know how else we could have gotten her out without actually cutting a hole in the door.

We have arrived...

We did it... we are now the proud owners of a minivan. I never thought that would be exciting for me... I even vowed that I would never own one, but after our last camping trip with two kids and trying to pack all the essentials... well it was either leave the sleeping bags or the kids. Now I think it's great to own something that you can fit everyone and everything in to at the same time... I told Jer that the only thing we're missing now are the little stickers of people that you put on your back window... then we'll truly be a utah minivan driving family.

Interactive baby

So Ada thinks it's great when any kind of sound comes from little Sammy. If he coos, she giggles... but if I'm burping him she says, "Baby says 'urp'". She also makes a little farting sound with her mouth anytime he farts... At least she's not ignoring him!

We're not!

Cousins Mariah and Adam were playing together all weekend during our family reunion. We caught a picture of them playing in the crate that the pinewood derby track is stored in. Grandpa saw them and told them to stop playing in the crate. Adam innocently looks up at him and says, "But we're not!"

Pictures of the last 2 weeks

Roger and Moana.

Aubrey, Sophie, McKay and Devin.

McKay and Devin, Moana and Ada, Roger and Aubrey.

Samuel and Roger.

Samuel during the reunion.

Jim and Jon during the pinewood derby.

Ada , Jer, and I at the zoo.

Aubrey, Devin, Ada at the zoo.

Sharon, Ada, McKay and Aubrey at the aquarium

Janelle and Aubrey at the aquarium

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Devin, Ada, and Aubrey