Aaahhhh, Summer....

It is finally here.  Summer.  It hasn't been too hot yet, but I know that will change.  However, it is nice to not be pregnant during the summer.  My non-air conditioned house doesn't seem so unpleasant this year as opposed to last year.  

We celebrated Father's Day with vigor this year.  Richard might not agree, but then again, I was vomiting on Mother's Day so he was off the hook a little bit.  But the dessert I made him was fantastic!  A little history to it--

When Richie's sister Holly was in high school she was asked to a dance with a flower pot full of chocolate pudding and oreo crumbs, the query being inside the pudding somewhere.  Richie ate all of that chocolate pudding.  About a month ago I made chocolate pudding and Richie recalled wistfully the pot of pudding he ate so long ago and said "I want a flower pot full of pudding and oreos for Father's Day."  Request granted.  Two large packages of Jello Chocolate pudding, two full sleeves of crushed Oreos, and four bags of "garden" gummies strewn over the top.  Oh yeah, and a beautiful handcrafted flower featuring our two babes.  Pretty sweet if you ask me.  I include a picture of it here.

We also had a very busy, fun Independence Day holiday.  Richard had three days off work, which was really nice, and those days constituted of a lot of swimming, yard work, house cleaning, traveling, eating, being with friends and family and lighting fireworks.  Eve wasn't terrified of the fireworks this year, in fact, she wasn't even very interested in them at all.  Granted, we lit them off while it was still light out.  Maybe when she's older she'll enjoy them more.  But Theron liked them.  He wasn't scared of them at all, although he regarded them suspiciously at first.  He definitely takes after my side of the family: tubby, long toes, and a draw to explosives.

 

Well, our garden is growing, our kids are cute, and tomorrow the day is all swimming parties, otter pops, and hammock swinging.  Jealous?  Yeah, so is everyone else.

 Richie and my dad built a sandbox

 Look at this little guy sitting up!  One of my pet names for Theron is boo or boobie and today Eve kept talking about boob boy and I couldn't figure out who she was talking about at first.  But then I got it :)

 The classic "lipstick" picture.  I was angry with her because it also got all over her dress, my sheets and our new comforter cover *sigh*

 My darling little daughter went to a fair and out of all the choices for face painting she got a black bat.  A black bat with green sparkles :)

 This morning Theron had blueberries with his bananas and he wasn't sure how he felt about that

The prettiest flower in my garden

Spring Has Sprung?

 Sigh.  We are still experiencing early spring-like weather here.  I can't wait for it to be consistently warm for the first time this year!  But, seeing as how we've had no MAJOR flooding or deadly tornadoes, I guess I won't complain.  But it snowed on Memorial Day and ruined my BBQ!  Okay, now I'm done.

Things here have been pretty busy.  We built a sandbox for Eve in the backyard, which was surprisingly more expensive than it sounds, but it's really fun, so well worth it.  Theron has got in his first two teeth and is now working on the next two.  He is 7 months old today!  And what a tub!  At his 6 month appointment he had slowed down on his weight gain and was just average.  But right after that he hit a growth spurt and is probably close to 20 lb now.  He is a jolly fat babe that is content to be doing whatever, as long as Eve or I or anyone for that matter, is paying attention to him.  He does not like to be left alone, but he is very mellow as long as there is company around.  So mellow that he is not even close to rolling over completely or sitting on his own for much longer than a few seconds.  Why move when you're happy not to?  The love that I have for my sweet little man is boundless, and we snuggle everyday.

Eve is a spitfire, has more energy than an atom bomb, and definitely embraces her role as a two year old.  But for all her aggravating moments, she is still a profoundly sweet and happy child.  She never hits or yells at other kids, always shares, loves her brother and makes him belly laugh.  Her new response to everything is "That sounds fun!" and the first words out of her mouth to me in the morning are "Park!  I wanna go to the Park!"   Today she could tell that I was starting to get really frustrated with Theron and herself, so for the rest of the afternoon she hugged me every so often and whisper "I love you!" in my ear.  What a wonderful child.  Other funny things she has said:  Calls Richie "Richard Daddy"; after hearing me talk to Richie on the phone she asked "You talking to Richie?"; one day as I was using the toilet she banged on the bathroom door and yelled "Hi Momma!  You peeing in there?" And weirdly, the other morning while eating breakfast, she told me she "want to see a crying people out the window."  I don't know where that came from but she is very interested in people's feelings right now, and she tells me that a lot of things are crying, or perhaps are cold, which is why she stuck her play phone under her bed sheets the other day before her nap.

Let's see...what else is new?  Richard won employee of the quarter, I turned 29, the swimming pool opened, my mom came to stay for a week, and we planted our garden (finally!)  We have thus far lettuces, spinach, swiss chard, rhubarb, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, tomatilloes, basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, cilantro, acorn squash, butternut, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, pumpkins and sunflowers.  We'll see what we actually get.  They are getting too much water and not enough sun, and in a month or two it will be too much sun and not enough water. There has been other things but I need to finish my father's day cards.

Here are random pics:

At Baby Animal Days...which was rainy and cold!  BOO!

Just another morning spent at the park

Easter at my parents' house in Cedar City.  It was soooo much fun!  But Theron got sick, which is why we have no pictures of him, not because the Easter Bunny forgot him :)

At the Hogle Zoo with grandparents

 

  One of the best parts of my day...them waking up happy and laughing together

And last, but certainly not least, the best baby in the world, my own darling Theron, the light of my life.  Who can resist those cheeks and dimpled chin?  Who?  Nobody!

My Week in Photos

I have been wanting to post for a while now, but our desktop is quickly dying, so we decided to finally enter the 21st century and buy a laptop! We like it, but now I am using picasa photo editing software, and I don't like it as much. I'm still trying to figure it out.  I was up past midnight organizing our newest photos.  At 1:30 Eve started crying, and usually we just ignore it because she falls right back asleep.  But Richard checked on her and she had vomited everywhere.  Poor thing.  She threw up again this morning, but she's not running a fever, so I'm not sure what's up.  Hopefully she's past the puking, because Richard and I have a chance to go snowboarding on Saturday!  But I digress.  Here a lot of photos that I took within a week.  It's a typical week for me.  Enjoy!

Exhibit A:  The Offending Criminal

Eve found some  expensive dark chocolate on my dresser from my Christmas stocking.  She closed herself in my room, and when I found her, she was crying because I think she bit her tongue.  But not  before she was able to indulge in some south American cocoa.  Below:  Eve and the tempting chocolate.

Exhibit B:  Awesome Parenting

Eve has been experimenting with taking her clothes on and off.  On this day, she was able to remove her pants, unbutton her onesies snaps, lift it over her head, but not get it off her shoulders.  Then she watched The Simpsons slack jawed, pushing her overly full diaper halfway down her bum.  Aren't I a good mom?

Exhibit C: Jumping

This is Eve's new skill.  She does it all the time.  All the time. Jumping!

 

Exhibit D: It's Not All Bad, Just Always Crazy

Richard made homemade wheat bread.  Yum!

Going Arty on Y'all:  Busting Out the Black and White

So despite the poop, vomit, spit-up, sore back, full diapers, temper tantrums, whining, late nights, and early mornings, I think these next exhibits will prove it's all worth it.

Exhibit A:  My Theron

Exhibit B: My Children

 

Exhibit C: My Eve

Exhibit D: Other Things That Make Me Happy

And to end, this still life, which I think perfectly sums up my life right now.

My Little Star Shining Brightly

2'8"  23 lb

16th percentile weight 

10th percentile height

Eve is Two.  It kills me, it just kills me.  And I mean that in mostly a sentimental way, though my patience levels have dipped to a new low with her lately--she's terrorizing the house, the cat, her new Finding Nemo DVD.  I blame part of it on the weather socking us inside all day long, all winter long, and a lot of it I feel I'm to blame because I should be more patient and considerate of her feelings and not stoop to her level and throw a fit when I don't get my way and keep the whining out of my voice.  But I am also human, with another little human constantly stuck to the breast (also my choice, in a way) and sleeping in my bed (also because of my laziness).  And now I'm thinking that the previous sentences aren't really making sense, but I'm not even going to reread them.  I think you get the point.  

Kissing Theron with Granny P

No--Eve is glorious.  I adore her.  I love her.  She is the most wonderful part of my life.  I love that she has such vast curiosity, a keen desire to help me with everything, and an enthusiasm for life that knows no bounds.  It's piontless to put new child safety locks on the doors because she's too smart for them now, and besides, she knows where everything is and what she wants.  She is talking all the time, and singing.  Her singing is adorable.  I tried to video tape it the other day, but it didn't work. 

 

 Running away when we want her to come

 Blowing the candles out on her chocolate peanut butter pie

 Eating birthday pie

 

But let's talk about Eve.  She is finally reaching into the growth charts again, and is finally getting closer to being in her age appropriate size clothing.  All her teeth are in and look fabulous.  She loves little animal toys, bouncy balls, the cat and trying to put clothes on and off everyone or thing.  She loves to stomp in puddles.  She pats Theron's belly and tells him to open his eyes.  she loves to give kisses and has given me several wet open mouth kisses right on my mouth.  It makes me laugh each time.  She has very mysterious and in depth phone calls on my cell phone in a language I cannot understand.  She paints, draws, runs, splashes and thinks it's funny to walk around the house with something over her eyes and then bump into things and fall down.  Favorite show: Finding Nemo.  Favorite Song:  "I Love to See the Temple."  Favorite Animal:  all of them.  Favorite Color: purple.  Favorite Food: noodles.  Favorite Person: Daddy.  Favorite Sport: Basketball.  Favorite Candy: Candy canes with M&Ms coming in a close second.  She has every family member's name memorized and will constantly list them over and over again.  And of course, there is the intense, high pitched shrieking.  All.  Day.  Long.  Oh--and she finds is hilarious to do the opposite of what I say.  Ha ha Eve.

She watches this movie constantly.  

You'd think she'd show a little more enthusiasm to get it as a gift.

A Funny Eve Story:

Richie was being silly with her one morning at breakfast.  He started singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" in a very deep bass voice.  Eve kept saying "Calm down, Daddy, sshh!  Calm down!"  the whole way through the song.  

Birthday bathing: the joy of eating bubbles:

So Happy Birthday, my darling, delightful girl.  I love you.  Please don't grow up too fast.  Because I can't keep up with you!