pumpkin patch. part 1

we have been pumpkin patching with these guys for 3 years now.

they live in LA- so instead of meeting up at Bates like we did the past two years

we met half way- in Irvine- at a pumpkin patch with a train.

and rain.

not that it is always raining there,

but when we went it was.

so we got very few pictures.

reecie slept through the whole thing.

we took a little train ride.

we ran round thier little patch.

jules and i stood in the rain and talked about potty training

while the boys jumped their hearts out in the bounce house.

the boys got a pumpkin and then

we finally packed up to find an indoor play place to eat lunch

cause we weren't ready to part ways yet,

even if it was pouring rain.

we ate chick-fil-a and chatted while the boys played some more.

they are such great little buddies and

even after a few months apart they pick up right where they left off.

it's really cute to see how much fun they have together.

ollie smiled through it all.

then puked all over his momma.

i wish they still lived half a mile away
cause i love 'em all!

if you mustache why...

we would say beacuse uncle pat's birthday makes you want to put on a mustache or two and take a photo shoot.

easiest kid ever!!

no, not elliot-bless his energetic spunky sassy little heart.

but benny, his cousin.
he is not only adorable, but as sweet as they come.
the kind of kid that makes you want to have 20 more.
ben is the baby in his family. 
he follows a very stubborn and challenging, 
but also adorable brother.
the Lord gave them ben as a tender mercy after collin. 
ben is such an awesome example and buddy to elliot
he teaches him 
how to share
how to not cough in your hand, but in your arm fold.
how to catch polie bugs
what a pirate ship is made out of
how to eat all your dinner
and 
best of all how to play for HOURS without mom!! 

we like to invite benny over as much as possible. (but he's a big preschooler now)
we'd even pay him if we needed to.
but lucky for us, he thinks elliot is pretty great and comes for free! 
we also get all benny and collins wonderful hand me downs. 
so every time elliot get dressed he comments,
"that's so nice for benny to share his shirts wif me, huh mom?" 
it's true, benny is really nice.

three favorite words

it makes my heart so happy 
when e comes running into the family room after reading stories with dad and says,

"TIME FOR FRIP-SHURES!" (scriptures)

because that means we made it through another day.
it means dinner was decided and eaten (i struggle with what to fix for dinner. A LOT)
it means baths are done
jammies are on 
and bedtime is less then 5 minutes away.
it means that even though i may have done lots of things wrong 
at least we are ending the day with something right.

JACKPOT!!!

i love that when a baby starts smiling you feel like you have won the lottery!!

nesting

reecie boy came 24 days early.
i was in MAJOR "nesting" mode when my water broke.
so did my vacuum.
so i went to my parents and borrowed theirs cause
i was not going to bring a baby home to a dirty house!
i had done my big shop to fill the pantry earlier that week
(i did the same thing when i was nesting with elliot-
it's the only time i ever shop at stater brothers. a week before i go into labor. strange.)
and i did have a box of diapers and a car seat to bring him home in.
we had just pulled down the bassinet and baby clothes from the attic.
i had to wash them still.
so even though my water broke- well started to leak around 8 am- i cleaned and did laundry and went to target and the library. finally went to the hospital at 4pm.
i digress.
this is not about reece's birth, but about fact that he came early
and i was NOT finished nesting!
i felt like i was going to be about 24 days behind for the rest of forever.
the pile on my dresser was as tall as me,
and reece's clothes were in little piles here and there and everywhere.
i learned it is VERY hard to nest when your baby bird has already hatched!
so i took a deep big breath and counted 1-2-3.
and soon enough that sweet baby bird of mine was sleeping more than 2-3 hour stretches at night. even 10 hours sometimes!
so when i too got some sleep i could finish a project or two. or five.

this mirror is now a HAPPY
shade of yellow and hanging
above our "linens" dresser

this dresser was originally my dads
oldie but goodie
a few cans of spray paint later...

all this nesting and our "baby bird"
sleeps in the closet
just like harry potter

the boys got our old dresser
cause it has two even sides
that works perfect for keeping things in order

i even managed to find an "arfor"
i.e. an R for reece

now the nest is in order and the baby bird is chubby and sleeping
i will have to soon go back to work. :\

3 months

he's cute
he's fat
and i want to eat him!

he goes to bed about 6:30
is up about 7ish
and only wakes once to eat

during the day he likes to
eat every 3 hours
at least.

he smiles
he coos
and he loves his bouncy seat

"good luck with your face"

LOTS of bruising.
but nothing broken and no stitches!

we had another milestone as parents yesterday...

our first medical crisis.

lots of tears

lots of blood

lots of wondering what we should do...

elliot tripped and hit his face on the legs of a chair.

as a nurse i feel very out of my element when teeth are involved.

perhaps it's cause i hate the dentist, so i hate thinking that my kid will have to endure some awful dental treatment. after  about 5 minutes of his unconsolable crying, a phone call to my mom (not home), a phone call to elliots dentist (closed for 3 weeks) i said, lets just take him to dr. marlers office and ask what we should do. of course this happened while making dinner.

turn off the burners.

wake up the baby.

load into the van.

thankfully it's only about 1 mile to his office.

we went in and asked for "dr. marler or JJ, i mean, dr. Campbell." JJ came right out and took a look and said he will have a pretty sore mouth for a few days, he shoved the teeth back but kids have spongy bone and so it should be alright. we can follow up with an xray when he is not so sore. the teeth will probably turn black.

he almost bit through his bottom lip too.

PHEW!! 

we got lucky this time! 

elliot has been a trooper and adapted to his new fat lip 

by sipping a straw out "my front teeth," 

and is trying to milk the injury for all the fruit snacks he can.

i'm a sucker and he got 2 bags of them today.

at bedtime he asked if his teeth were going to fall out.

i said "probably not. but they might turn black."

he said "or maybe pink."

maybe.

BEFORE-
this picture was taken the morning of the accident.
cause he LOVES to have pictures of himself and
then look at them on the back of the camera

his gums look like hamburger meat

but we still think he is cute! 

blessed

someday i will have my act together enough to get a picture of the baby with all those who blessed him. it would require me being really early to church and it's not happening. we give ourselves high fives every week cause we are just barley on time.
and someday i will get a family photo of all four of us.
hopefully before there is five of us.

we really do feel so blessed to be trusted to raise such noble and bright spirits. it is such an honor to be a mom. as jon has blessed our babies, and i listen to the words pour out about their future and the righteous desires we have for them in this life, it's strange to think of my little peanut as a missionary or husband or father someday. but i see how quickly time goes and i realize that these moments where they are under my watch care will be gone before i know it.  i know they are not really mine, just on loan to me from Him. and i really want to make sure i help them return Home with honor. but for now we will work on pooping on the potty and sleeping through the night.

like a fine wine

not that i have ever had a drink of wine (but i did drink a sip of my nana's vodka (it was next to my 7-up) on accident when i was about 7 or 8 years old and i thought i would die or get in trouble so i spent about 30 min in the bathroom praying not to die or go to hell and then tried to make myself puke. nothing happened- death, hell or puking. so i returned to the festivities and have never had a drink since.) but that is not my point. my point is that kids just get better and better with age. i told my mom several years ago (pre marriage) that i could not wait to have my own 3 year old someday. and elliot is now two and a half and well on his way to hillarious.
he still can be found snacking on dog food, he likes to play "minjas" and put anything around his head for the costume, he sings LOTS of songs but mostly the abc's in several different voices, LOVES his cousins, thinks he's 10,  loves to read books and watch a "moomie", likes his yellow hair, knows a lot of his letters but still struggles with naming colors- especially black and white, is really good to baby reecie and likes to hold him for about 17 seconds a day, is addicted to fruit snacks, gives awesome hugs and proclaims his love for us about 6 times a day, is HIGHLY motivated by sugar, can put his shoes on himself, loves to play tag and hide and go seek, is getting much better at helping and listening, clears the dishes from the table, is SLOWLY overcoming his fear of pooping in the toilet, still refers to our car as "the new white van," he insists on wearing jammies and doing prayers and scriptures at naptime, likes to eat things "out of the bag," words that start with "s" he says with an "f"
i.e. fwimming.
i need to start recording the funny things he says. the stuff you think you will never forget cause you die laughing. like the other day when he came in carrying a white plastic whiffle ball and said "it my hona-wena to show me to the pwomise wand." and carried it around all evening like it was a liahona.
and bummer about him not being able to say his L's cause when people ask him his name he says "eddiot" and they look at me like i'm the idiot for naming him "idiot."  I say, ELL-iot and smile.

powerless

from thursday at 5:27 pm to friday at 2:24 am
we were without power
(and my old friend- mr 102 degrees was still visiting!!)
we had bbq baked potatoes with chili
listened to the neighbors radio blast through our open windows
tried to call and text on the phone- unsuccessfully
read books by flashlight
and had the worst night sleep EVER cause
it was SO hot and there was no breeze
and i probably tried to turn on the fan 3 or 4 times
cause i would think, "the AC is out we will just use the fan."

102 degrees

Something about this heat makes me nostaligic...
i remember the week of my wedding and eating popcicles for dinner
or

sleeping many nights out on the trampoline cause it was so stinkin hot
or

recess at the "little school"
or
the millions of of pool memories and smelling like chlorine and burning eyes.

i think growing up without air conditioning 

in a place where it can get to be 100 plus degrees

this intense heat feels like an old friend.

Today we went to the library
and then swam with the cousins and played match 

(we played with a "tee" when i was a lad) 

and Emily jumped into the pool with reckless abandon- in all her clothes (shoes and all)

it was awesome. 

My new calling in church is with the 8-11 year old girls. what a group!! 

from sweet to bizarro and everything in between 

i know these girls will be quite the source of stories and laughs for me.

And i know it has been months since i posted. 

but i have to let go of perfection and  realize it is better to record something

than to record nothing perfectly
there is an adage in nursing
"if you don't record it, it never happened."
and life is happening.
and since i forgot to take grandpa to the dentist today,
i don't want to forget the good stuff. . .

elliot pumping milk for reecie

ps. i did put a bit of breast milk on elliots oatmeal this morning cause we were all out of milk .
jon and i had eggs.

2 months

2 chins

2 rolls in your thighs

almost 2x birth weight(12.5lb)

23.5 inches

wake 2 times a night to eat

like to eat every 2 hours- but mom tries to hold you off for 3



FYI: reece is EXACTLY the same size as elliot was at this age- good thing pictures are dated cause they look just alike too- but looking alike comes in handy cause i know my mom tried to pass off pictures of my siblings as myself many times.

1 month

weight:9 pounds
height: 22 inches

he looks so guilty...
but really he is a great baby
he eats and sleeps and poops and eats
and we love him to pieces
our reecie piecey

since you came 23 days early i told everyone
that i would try to not let you cry and hold you as much as possible since you were still supposed to be inside cooking for a little longer. you took LOTS of naps and slept most of the night right on my chest.