Small and Simple Things

Today has been a day of much growth around this household. Saydi finally started crawling! We have been waiting for her to start crawling for so long since we assumed she would around the same time Weston did - just shy of 7 months old. She was a typical girl about it and took her sweet time. =) It's time to get the gate out! In addition to this our sweet baby girl finally pulled herself up to a standing position today. I went to get her out of her crib after her nap and there she was! Needless to say, Daddy and I lowered her crib before he went to work tonight! Sadly these changes, while making me so happy to see my little girl learn new things, also make me sad to see how big she's getting so fast! Such is life I suppose. At her 9 month checkup last week she weighed in at 17 lbs. (14th percentile but up from the THIRD!) and 28 inches long (61st percentile). I checked Weston's growth charts to compare and he weighed over 22 lbs and was 30 inches long at 9 months. A difference for sure but she'll catch up.

Weston reached his own little milestone today too. I was texting my sister and cleaning up after lunch and I heard this wooshing sound so I went to inspect and I found that he had pulled his stool over to the sink, washed his hands and was drying them without me even telling him to! So proud.

Here are some recent, random pictures:

Weston was sporting Mark's beanie and sunglasses (on the top of his head) but as always, had to see what I was taking a picture of so this is the best I got. He looks drunk but it cracks me up! He's so funny. He'll wear these beanies all day long sometimes.

Saydi looked so stinking cute on Sunday that I just had to take a picture of her in her cute little dress. This is after church though so her cute butterfly was pulled out of her hair and if you look close you can see the ring of slobber on her dress (still no teeth!). She's getting so big!

It's funny how such little things like seeing your kids learn new things and baking cookies with them can totally make you appreciate how much your kids mean to you. I love being a mom and knowing that I have these two little people in my life that help make it meaningful and worth while.

Things That Make Ya Go "Hmmm"

We've had a recent tragedy in our family that has really had me pondering things. Mark's cousin's wife died in a car accident. I attended the viewing on Mark's behalf since he was working and have been thinking ever since how much my family means to me and that truly, you never know what moment might be your last with them. So, I decided to devote an entire post to each child so that I will always remember the moments we've been having with them recently and how much they mean to me. We are truly so blessed!

"Fussy" Weston

Well, Weston is not really living up to his nickname "Fussy" as much as he did as a baby but unfortunately it has still stuck with him and he answers to both names. (Actual he'll answer to Wes, Weston, Fussy, Fuss, and Fussy Britches!) I've said it before but really, Mark and I just can't get over what a good big brother he is. I was getting ready this morning and Saydi was SCREAMING in delight so I snuck to get the camera and caught them playing.

Sometimes when I go get Saydi out of her crib after naps Weston giggles so much that it sounds like the kind of happy laughter you have right before you burst into tears. It's adorable. He loves to cuddle with Saydi too. I took this picture Sunday morning as he was watching his New Testament video (those are what he is allowed to watch on Sunday). He's in the middle of saying, "Where's Jesus?" - which he says over and over as he watches these movies because he knows Jesus is in every one of them!

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of other pictures of him because when I get the camera out he goes crazy and has to see what I'm taking a picture of. Hopefully I can break him of that habit, otherwise we'll have nothing but videos of him if I can sneak up on him!

He loves to play ball. The other night we were throwing this ball back and forth and out of nowhere he starting throwing himself back on the couch and saying "ouch" and then laughing. It was pretty cute. Please note in the below video that the ball I threw at him was half-way deflated and I didn't throw it hard. The throwing himself backwards was part of the game - honestly!

Weston has such a fun personality. When I call for him he says "what?" which I think is adorable. He'll also say "hey" with a very stretched out "ey" if you do something he doesn't like. Also adorable. I don't know where he got it from but he started doing this new thing where he'll get close to Saydi (or sometimes me) and jab his finger into the air and say, "you, you, you" over and over! Hilarious. He says new words every day and I'm so glad. I think he knows a lot more then he shows! He can repeat all the colors I say but he won't say them on his own. He can spot an oval or a star absolutely anywhere. No idea why "oval" was the first shape he learned. And he really knows the difference between a circle and an oval. At night we read his books that go with his theme for the week from his learning poster and then we read the board books that are the stories of the Old or New Testament or Book of Mormon. After we finish his library books I say, "time for scriptures" and he gasps and says "priptures!". Probably my favorite thing about this little boy is his knowledge of prayer. He will say "prayer" even when he sees me dishing up his food and he almost never touches it before we say prayer. Most the time he is the first one with his arms folded! In church every time after the organ stops he folds his arms because he's gotten used to praying after music. It cracks me up when he drops everything he's doing to fold his arms after the rest hymn! He keeps me in line and there is never a day where we don't pray at least four times a day - with every meal and at bedtime. He goes to nursery with no problems now and babbles like crazy when I go get him. A few words are noticeable but mostly just silly talk! He'll get there one day and then I'll really be in trouble! Weston has such a sweet demeanor and a disposition to do good always. He is truly an amazing spirit and I feel honored to think that he chose Mark and I to raise him. Hopefully we won't ruin him because he is so special. We love you Fussy Britches!

"Precious" Saydi

Saydi is such a different baby since going on bottles and we love it! She is happy so much more and is figuring out some seriously funny things to do. Her tongue is still her favorite toy, as this video demonstrates. *Note: My kids stop everything they're doing if I ever turn off the music (I think they wonder what's going on since I always have it on!) so you'll notice it in lots of my videos. Don't want to ruin the moment!

My favorite part of this video is the very end. In case you can't tell Weston says, "that's funny" after which Saydi starts laughing and then we all start in. Love it.

Amy had her baby (Keira Belle) on March 9th and Sarah and I both went down there with our little girls and got pictures of the three of them. Aaron managed to get one of all of them that was good but this was what I got! Three girls in nine months - so fun!

While we were there Saydi figured out that she could blow on Amy's leather couch and make raspberries. She honestly entertained herself for about 10 minutes. She of course didn't do it as good when I turned on the camera but still, it's pretty cute. =)

Her hair now fits into ponytails (I can even do two!) and I love it but unfortunately Saydi hates getting her hair done already! Oh well, she better get used to it! After her nap it usually gets pulled out and she sports this lovely mohawk.

I will seriously not be surprised if Saydi starts crawling tomorrow. She is SO close. It gets frustrating for both of us I think! She sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes a small nap in the morning and at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Usually with her brother which is fantastic for me. Weston is her hero already. He makes her giggle all the time. She will lurch and lunge out of my arms to be able to see him at all times. She is starting to want real food. But not just real food, food that she can feed herself. I fear my independence has rubbed off on my children a little early! Her 9 month checkup is Monday so I'll post her stats then. Her cheeks and thighs sure are getting more full though which we love! She loves outside just as much as Weston and also loves the car - which is especially nice since she still is in the rear facing seat. We love our little girl so much and I honestly don't know what I would do without her. Despite her only being with us for nine months so far I really don't remember what we did before her! We love you Precious!

Dear Pajama Day...

Dear Pajama Day,

I miss you. Please come back into my life. Things just aren't the same when you're not around once every couple of weeks. Okay, once every single week. At least. I know I'm supposed to stay busy with other things but my heart belongs to you. I love you. Please come back soon. Please.

Love,

Jennifer

Random Updates

I've been kind of lazy about my blog lately but then I got my blog book in the mail (best $35 I ever spent) and now I'm recommitted to being better about writing down the happenings in our family. Let's face it - that's really why I write this blog. Because I have the world's worst memory and if it's not documented, it's forgotten.

So first of all thank you so much for all the shout outs about my guilt post. Even though I can't seem to make myself quit feeling guilty about all the things I do (or don't do) as a mother it helps me so much to know that pretty much every other mom out there feels the same way! And thanks for all the kind words about my mothering. I'm glad it looks so good on paper. =)

Here are just some recent pictures and a brief update on life lately:

We took a trip to Utah to help Mark's brother, Sean, move into their new house. On the way there Weston and Saydi were holding hands. It was so adorable. They both did GREAT in the car. And the great thing is that we were gone for three days and Mark didn't use any vacation time because he works 4 on, 4 off. Love that.

Steph is so in love with Saydi (and Weston too but girls gotta stick together) and the feeling is definitely mutual. Saydi fell asleep with Steph while she was keeping her out of the way as things were brought in and Steph was quick to follow!

Saydi got stuck under the coffee table the other day and it was pretty cute. She's not crawling at all yet but can kind of scoot her way around. Enough to get stuck and get mad anyway!

She was mid-sneeze when I took this and I thought it was pretty funny!

Mark has been working so much lately and it has been quite an adjustment for me. Mark is such a great help to me with both the kids and the house work so it's been kind of hard becoming a "single" parent for four days in a row. Then we have weeks like this one where he has an extra day of over-time and then has a scout campout to go to on his days off. And next week he has to go in for training, classes, and an over-time which will end up having him working for close to 12 days straight. I think we all just might lose our sanity! I know my patience has certainly been wearing thin and I really need to try harder at adjusting more quickly! But this is one of those things for us where the saying "careful what you wish for" is so true. We've needed the extra money and apparently the only way to get it is to work for it. Truthfully though, all hardships aside, we're very grateful to our Heavenly Father for answering our prayers with this job and the extra income. And most days my burden really does feel lighter despite being alone with both kids for 15 hours a day. We're just plain loving life and enjoying our little family!

The Worst Thing About Motherhood

Guilt. How I loathe you. Everything else about being a mom has some kind of reward. Including potty training and sleepless nights. But guilt is good for NOTHING. Unfortunately I've been experiencing a lot of it lately. I've been debating for a while about weaning Saydi onto formula but really didn't want to for lots of reasons - breast milk is better, formula's expensive, she's getting so close to being one and going on whole milk, etc. However, I've worried about this little girl practically since birth. She rarely giggles and lately was even starting to smile less. She absolutely loses it when I leave the room or if someone else tries to play with her and talk to her. Most concerning to me is that over the last almost six months she has only gained TWO pounds. Two. Not good. I've felt like all of this is because of my milk supply so I've been trying to drink more water, etc. But a couple weeks ago I had to get a colonoscopy and so I had to pump and dump for 12 hours so Saydi had to take bottles for a day. There was pretty much no looking back for her. I fought her the whole next day to try to get her to nurse and even though so started to again she will not do it for more then 5-6 minutes and she is frequently breaking off and looking around, getting bored with it. Plus she won't really latch on very good any more either. So, when she went an entire day last week with almost no wet diapers at ALL I decided it was time to make it official. The thing is - I feel guilty about switching her, but I feel even more guilty about the changes I'm already seeing in her. She plays, giggles, smiles, is content, and is wetting diapers like a champ! So now I have guilt that I didn't switch her sooner! (Or at least try to figure something out!) She's still nursing first thing in the morning and for one feeding during the day and then she does both before bed. I plan to have her completely weaned by the time she's 9 months to make it an easier adjustment for both of us. But I really wish I could just look at the positive and not worry about all the guilt over every dumb thing. I hate it. I do it with Weston too. Sometimes when I can't sleep at night I will remember times he's fallen down the stairs and I wasn't there and I just think, if only..., or why didn't I... Blah! Guilt, guilt, go away!