"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.