They Live!

So- if you've read my previous post about Ayden's birthday- then you know that we bought 3 fishies for his birthday. Nemo, Horton and Wall-e... and you should also know that two of these fishies died within the first 24 hours of purchasing them. Sadly though- I was not surprised. So, three days after the two fishies were flushed down the toilet to find their dad! Sorry- terrible pun! We bought two more! And can you guess what they're called? Nemo (we like to think he was the one that survived), Horton and Wall-e.

On other news- we ran out of baby formula on Sunday and because of this, Ethan has been converted instantly into a baby food consumer. He seems to have taken this transformation rather well. So long as I feed him the sweet potatoes and carrots. No peas please. Ayden wanted to help in this transition of course and stared at Ethan while he ate... or in some cases, stole the baby food. Either to his great pleasure because it tasted so yummy or great dismay, because. . . well. . . it had not.

Last note before I run off to clean and make dinner and be Mommy until I go to work. We bought Ayden some chalk for his birthday and then he got some from Grammie and Papa Kunz, so to celebrate our abundant blessings. We went outside and colored all over the sidewalk and then to add to the masterpiece we'd created, Ayden slid his litte bum all over it.

It is now truly a thing of beauty! However once Ayden realized that his new clothes were covered in chalk. How did that happen?! He was pretty upset. And like the good mother that I am. I made him stay in the clothes until I took pictures of his cute little self.

"Noooooo- mine toys!"

We brought out some of Ayden's old baby toys a few days ago for Ethan to play with. He's getting to that point where he can somewhat grab stuff and is interested in toys. So, I figured there's not really a better time to get them out and let him have a go with them.

However- I did not expect the reaction I got from Ayden. I brought them down and put them in front of Ethan while Ayden was eating lunch. He instantly stood up and yelled "NOOOOO!" pointed to Ethan and cried, "Mine! My toys!". Mind you- he's not played with these for over a year. They have been sitting in his toy box upstairs singing a lonely song of lonliness.

Ethan was thrilled. Ayden was ticked- at me I assume. And I was thoroughly entertained!

He glowered at Ethan all through his lunch, which just minutes before was taking forever to eat and now seemed to have been wolfed down in less than two minutes. Once he was done he looked over at me and said, "done! all done!" I washed his hands and let him go.... and now not to my surprise, he rushed over to Ethan and snatched every last toy up. Ethan just looked up at him and laughed with excitement because he was getting attention from his big brother. I explained to Ayden that those toys are "lil-lul like brother." He quietly repeats me, "lil-lul." I got him to give the toys back and go draw me a picture.

Ayden's 2!!

Two years ago on June 23rd I went into labor with Ayden! It was at a huge family gathering that the contractions got really bad. So as I hid in McKay's grandma's bedroom timing the oh so wonderful contractions, I had the pleasure of many MANY little faces peeking their heads in once in a while to see what was going on. I took a shower to try to make them stop- which at this time I was praying it wouldn't help! Naturally it didn't. All of McKay's Uncles on the Thomson side were at this get-together, so they gave me a blessing and we drove to the hospital at I think 6pm; with 3 or 4 cars following us. haha. We get to the hospital and it takes me several stops from the car to get to the front of the hospital door, which was parked right at the front door.
Good stuff. They wheeled me upstairs- set me in a waiting room to make sure I REALLY was in labor. I stood, layed and sat in there for two hours and went (dilated) from a 4 to a 6. They finally sped me to a room and got me all hooked up. It is the HaRdEsT thing to sit still, hunched over a 9 month belly, during a contraction so the anesthesiologist could stick me with the needle for an epidural! But I'm glad he did. What a relief from my awful contractions! My body spent 13 hours to get from a 6 to a 10... The epidural really slowed things down. I didn't care. I didn't feel anything... mostly! By the time I was ready to push, I had a whole audience there to enjoy this "beautiful" moment. In the lobby sat Great Grandpa Kunz. I don't know who was with him. Behind the curtain IN the room was John (Kami's husband) and Chelsea (who had just arrived for EFY I think) and then IN the room with me was Kirstin, McKay's aunt who is a labor and delivery nurse and was helping me. Then Kami, Elise, McKay, the midwife and about 5 other doctors. All there to help or give support. What a party! haha. It took me about 3 hours to push. Ugh! But finally he was born and naturally- I was exhausted! I've always seen on movies how the babies pretty much cry right after they're born. Ayden didn't do this, as a matter of fact. He was gray when he came out. This is why the 5 doctors were in there. They quickly showed him to me and whisked him away. Obviously he was fine, he just had his cord wrapped around his neck once or twice-- can't remember. So on June 24th at 7:20 something in the morning our sweet sweet boy was born! In order to celebrate we had a huge chocolate Costco cake, which is now a necessary tradition! :)

Now two years later we have an excuse to party! We went swimming at a relatives house earlier in the day, which felt great! Ayden loved his presents...or at least the ones that weren't clothes. Mommy and Daddy love those kind of presents. He got some crayon, coloring book, sidewalk chalk and from grandma and grandpa Allen a light saber! Oh yeah- we went a bought him 3 fishies. . . I'm glad we bought 3 because 2 have already died. haha. Good thing they only cost 17 cents. Before two fishies past on we or he named them Horton and Wall-e, the Nemo fishie is still alive. Very original names I must say.

Great Grandpa Kunz bought him a cool little whack-a-mouse toy and Great Grandma Thomson bought him some nice Sunday books! Today he should have one more present arrive from his Grandma and Grandpa Kunz, which I'm sure he'll love!

Instead of making a cake this year for Ayden's birthday, we made brownies and just gave him one piece. He's already done the face in the whole cake thing. So this time for my sake, we kept it mostly clean.
He for some reason chose to eat his piece of brownie with no hands.

Here's the photos of earlier today with the boys swimming! It was nice to play in a pool without a lot of other people around. McKay and I were holding each boy and playing in the water with them. Ayden was terrified at first. I think swimming lessons are in his very near future! Ethan just chilled for the most part. He'd get really excited and kick his legs, but that's about it. Ayden had a life jacket that he wore some of the time. But it made him more like a buoy and that seemed to really scare him. We really had a ton of fun. The weather was awesome! Ayden's birthday was a lot of fun and super tiring. By the time we got home almost everyone was ready to crash. Ethan was out first and then McKay. haha. These pictures below are some cute photos of the Happy Birthday boy!

Before we went swimming.

Helping me fold clothes.

I made him a little fort to keep him busy.

Happy People

My dad just sent me this quote and I really like it and thought I'd share it with you. Perhaps as proof that even though some things annoy me, I am an overall happy person!

"Every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don't sing and bells don't ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result."
Joseph B. Wirthlin

Seasoned warrior or total noob??

So this is my own kicking myself off my high horse! I've been feeling pretty good about myself as far as parenting goes! Thinking that I have all the answers when it comes to any child two and under. And I need reminding that I really am a total NOOB when it comes to being a parent.

I mean, I'm not all about a healthy and well balanced meal every day for Ayden... ok let me rephrase- I am all about that stuff! BUT I am a crummy cook. And when it comes down to it, plain and simple. I'm L-A-Z-Y. I'm just glad for the time being that he's too little to notice that Mom makes macaroni and cheese every night or pb&j's- there's still hope that I could potentially evolve into a good cook.

It has taken me two years to fully FULLY accept changing diapers. I used to fight it sooo much! Poor Ayden would wander around with a full diaper for sometimes a few hours, just because I was so annoyed that I had just barely changed it and he'd filled it only five minutes later! Argh- that is still one of the most annoying things! But at least now I'll just change him and get it over with.

I don't follow what my pediatrician tells me... sorry Dr. Wynn! But Ayden does often watch more than an hours worth of television every day. Ayden bugs me all the time- he throws stuff at me. He says 'NO' more times than I ever thought someone could in one day- let alone one hour! He tries to get me to hold all of his stuff, sounds cute right? Not when he tries to do it ALL the time and if I don't hold it for him, he throws it. If Ethan starts crying and I'm not in the mood to deal with it- he is swiftly taken to his room where he can cry his little heart out. Now- I love my both my boys to death! But when you're around someone literally ALL day- things do start to get annoying.

When Ayden is in a bad mood... I, like a sister, like to sometimes egg him on. He doesn't like to be touched when he's mad, so I'll poke him. And NO I don't know why I must do this. I don't know what on earth would make me want to make my two year old get all worked up.

I forget to do family home evenings... often. The intent is there! I just forget! Lame excuse, but I have work at 8pm and am usually getting ready for that. tsk tsk tsk

So. . . my confession. I am still a NOOB when it comes to parenting. Although if you try to tell me I'm a noob at being a Mommy, I will argue against that to the fullest!

Sidebar: this doesn't really have to do with my parenting or mothering skills- but it does seem to fit in this post. This is more my personality thing.

I don't care if you have 10 kids and all of them have grown to be outstanding people, or if you have two kids like me and they happen to be a bit older than mine. . . I do NOT WANT your parenting advice! I don't want you to tell me that I shouldn't be feeding my son this food or that if he's making that noise, then it must mean this! I don't even care if you're right to be honest. Pleasem tell me how to raise my kids when your kids are younger than mine or if you don't have any at all. Of course there are acceptions to this rule- if I ask for your help. Obviously I want it or if you're my pediatrician, I will most certainly listen, I may not act upon the advice, but I will listen. But all other times, I really don't!

Oo Oo, even better. When I am telling a story about either Ayden or Ethan and how good they are doing at any random thing- please one up me with a story. "What your baby isn't walking by now?! Mine starting walking at 6 months old!", "Your baby is just BARELY sleeping through the night?? Mine did that the first day we brough him or her back from the hospital!" *Thank you- I don't care. I'm still proud of my little boy and what he's doing.* And NO your kid is NOT the cutest one out there! I'm glad you think that- but I don't have to think it.

*also- this is not specific to anyone.*

Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name. ~William Wordsworth

Now what kind of a person would I be if I didn't talk about my Father on the day dedicated to Father's! I began this blog this morning by looking for quotes. I wish I had the skills to write words so beautiful to express my feelings toward my Daddy. I will do my best, but quotes will certainly emphasize what I cannot.

First off- you really have to be in the right mood or willing to change your mood to fully appreciate the love and emotion that was put into writing this.

There were a few things I was sure of when I was little about my Dad and I am still sure of them now. I knew and still know he loves me, that he loves my Mom. I know he is a good and strong man. I know he truly cares about people.

It warms my heart to watch my Father be so loving to my two little boys. It brings me such joy to hear my two year old gleefully shout "Grampa!" when he sees my Dad. Or when he'll walk around the house talking on his cellphone to my dad who isn't really there. I can only imagine that when I was little I had the same adoration toward my dad as I see my little boy show toward him.

One song I have always loved and always make me cry when I think about my Daddy:

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home
Glad as I can be,
clap my hands and shout for joy
and climb upon his knee.
put my arms around his neck
hug him tight like this
clap his cheeks and give him what
a great big kiss!

I found this quote that I know my little A does to Daddy M and it made me think of my dad. This is something I could see him saying. "A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he's in there, as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station." -- Bill Cosby. I hope that for anyone that reads this, it will spark many precious memories of your own with your dad or your own children.

One of the fondest memories I have with my Dad is when I was younger we would have Friday night pizza night with him. That was always our special night. When I was in high school there were days that I missed it.

I remember being very little in Nebraska and having my sister and I hiding on the top part of the bunk bed, while my dad was underneath. He would randomly throw his arm up toward our direction and try to grab us. We'd squeal with delight and would try to escape. We never knew which direction he was coming from, which made it all the more fun.

I remember times not so long ago when my dad and I would go hunting together. It made me feel so special that he would want to share such a precious part of his life with me. Not to mention how 'big' I felt getting up with him at 3 am to traipse through a forest and find a spot to wait. How beautiful it was to watch some of the sunrises I got to see with him-and some of the animals we got to see. They would walk right past us without a care. I can only image how much patience he had to have with me, teaching me how to walk so I wouldn't make much noise or politely whispering back to me when I would talk to him, knowing that most likely I would spook something.

I will never forget seeing my Dad in the temple with me for the first time. I will never forget him being there in the sealing room with my little family. Or the feeling of being with him in the Celestial room.

I miss telling my Dad silly stories and hearing him genuinely laugh. If you ever have a story you want to tell, tell my Dad. He'll listen like its the most important story there could ever be and then he'll laugh, I mean really laugh at the funny parts. Even if you butchered it. :)
My Dad always made sure we knew how much he loved our Mother and his wife and beautiful bride. He would tell us sometimes that, "Your Mom's and my relationship is special. We're made for each other." or often when she would run into the grocery store real fast and run back out, I would look over at my dad. He would always have this grin on his face and say "look how cute your Mother is." I know this may seem silly- but hearing him say stuff like that was so important to me. It made me think of how special and lucky my Mother is and I wanted to find someone that would treat me that way. He adores every little thing she does.

My Dad has always been a goofball. He always knew how to have fun. He always wanted to enjoy life with us. He taught a handful of our sports and I can remember always bragging about my dad being my coach. How blessed am I to have a dad who was so involved in my life. I love my Daddy and I pray that he knows this and knows that I truly look up to him every day. I cannot repeat that enough. I found a quote that I know years and years down the road will ring true to me.

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes. ~Gloria Naylor

Even as a Mother now of two little boys- I miss my daddy sometimes.

~

~

~

I Want to Be Just Like You
(Craig and Dean Phillips, copyright Star Song)

~

He climbs in my lap for a good night hug

He calls me Dad and I call him Bub

With his faded old pillow and a bear named Pooh

He snuggles up close and says, "I want to be like you"

I tuck him in bed and I kiss him good night

Trippin' over the toys as I turn out the light

And I whisper a prayer that someday he'll see

He's got a father in God 'cause he's seen Jesus in me

~

Lord, I want to be just like You

'Cause he wants to be just like me

I want to be a holy example

For his innocent eyes to see

Help me be a living Bible, Lord

That my little boy can read

I want to be just like You

'Cause he wants to be like me
~

Got to admit I've got so far to go

Make so many mistakes and I'm sure that You know

Sometimes it seems no matter how hard I try

With all the pressures in life I just can't get it all right

But I'm trying so hard to learn from the best

Being patient and kind, filled with Your tenderness

'Cause I know that he'll learn from the things that he sees

And the Jesus he finds will be the Jesus in me

Right now from where he stands I may seem mighty tall

But it's only 'cause I'm learning from the best Father of them all

.

.

I love you Daddy.

Brazilian Food and Double Strollers. That's how I like it.

There's not been a lot of photos on here of McKay... or ANY photos for that matter. So I decided that I ought to start getting pictures of him on here as well. He is after all, a part of this family too!


Mckay's showing what happens when Ethan is left to himself in the carrier. He sticks that little tongue out of his and licks the heck out of either side. I'm not sure if it tastes good or feels good on his mouth. Its cute- that's for sure.

And I must say- I LOVE my new stroller! It was the cheapest double jogging stroller they had in the store and it is perfect! I found out after I bought it that it has little built in speakers you connect to your iPod. I feel pretty smart now for getting such a good deal. Each seat reclines independent of itself. It has little storage slots all over the place... There's even a spot for the boys to stash stuff. For now just Ayden likes to take advantage of this awesome feature! Funny how I can get so excited over a stroller!Ethan as you can see also loves the stroller. Mostly because I think he likes the breeze when I go running with him. Ayden likes it too, I have to really bribe him to get out once we're done with my jog or walk.

Now onto jogging. Yes the whole purpose of the stroller was so I could somehow get back in shape. I can honestly say that I have not gone running or exercised in any real form since the day I was married. And the first day was a doozie! I must warn you that the next few paragraphs may not be so friendly to young ears. :) If you have seen me recently you'll likely know that I am rather out of proportion as far as breasties go. haha Even if you don't say it- I know you're thinking it!

McKay was joking with me that I better strap myself down pretty good or I might blacken an eye. I agreed that this may be a good idea. No reason to be knocked out while jogging-in what would be a rather embarrassing way! So I properly dressed myself to assure I didn't scare anyone or hurt myself. I started my run and much to my relief. Nothing was moving up north. Down south though. . . is altogether another story. Since having two kids I have realized how much that has 'softened' my tushy. That part of my body has never really ever moved before!

And I was slightly horrified that when I ran, it bounced. Boy do I have no shame. No reason trying to pretend it doesn't exist. lol Now more than ever. I am determined to firm up on all sides! I'm not going to have another baby for at least 3 more years, so I might as well start looking and feeling healthier! For those of you that live by me- I would not mind a jogging buddy, although. . . if you stare, I might have to hurt you. :P


ok- onto the not so gross business! Ayden will be turning two June 24th, which is next Wednesday. We are so excited to be able to celebrate with him. Earlier this week, we took him to a birthday lunch. McKay really wanted to go to Tucanos and I'm glad we did. It was as usual amazingly good. Tucanos, just happens to be one of our favorite Utah restaurants. Its a Brazilian Grill and the servers come around with skewered meat of several different types and ask you if you'd like any. They have an open salad bar as well as other delicious foods to choose from. But the real reason you'd ever come here, is for the meat!

Because it was Ayden's birthday, one of our servers brought him an ice cream sundae. Suffice it to say- he did not share.
And frankly if it were my birthday. I wouldn't either. :)

Ethan is beginning to learn his name. Or at least that's what I'd like to think. He looks up at me when I say it and gives me a big grin after he finds me. He has been solidly sleeping throughout the whole night for at least three weeks now. I don't now what to do with the extra sleep I'm getting. It's making me wake up earlier and and I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with my extra hours of the day that I didn't have before.

McKay and Ayden got ahold of my camera on Sunday and took some pictures. Check out those enormous eyes! He looks so much like McKay!

Ethan really enjoys his brothers attention and Ayden is trying very hard to play with him, but gets easily bored. Not so fun to play with someone that can only really stare at you and smile.

What a handsome young fellow.

Does that smile look familiar to anyone?? :)







Can't get enough of those good ole' lights!

Are we done yet?!

You know that popular phrase- "Are we there yet?" I'm sure most of you are more familiar with that phrase being repeated over and over and over again by children on a particularly long drive. I have decided that at this time in my life that another phrase very similar to this one, deserved to be repeated over and over again in my house... "Are we done yet? Are we done yet? ARE WE DONE YET!?" Because I feel like I'm on a loooooong drive of another sort-- parenting through the terrible twos. I wish I was one of those lucky parents who's two, three or four-year-old doesn't go through the 'terrible twos' phase. Ayden seems to have hit it with full force. One day I see the train coming and the next day I'm getting blown over by it full steam! His little attitude has come completely out of left field. I have only been dealing with this new power struggle for a few weeks and I'm already ready to throw in the towel.

Today I asked him if he wanted peas, which he loves and he had a melt down. Just started to ball and ball and would not let up. So after about 5 minutes of him on the verge of hyperventilating, I sent him to timeout to calm down. That tipped him over the edge. He stood in timeout for about two minutes gasping for breath.... OVER PEAS!!! I finally let him out after he seemed to have calmed down and just the mere mention of his name from my lips sent him moaning again... Oh come on! sooooo- I sent him to the bathroom this time. Hyperventilating and all. Being in there seemed to calm him down. Until he came over to me to ask for a snack. I told him no, because we hadn't dinner yet.... and honestly, he hadn't eaten anything healthy all day. It was a battle just to get him to eat breakfast. Anyway, he had another melt down because of this and its not even 4pm yet. Oi

Yesterday his tantrums were brought on by his milk cup tipping over in the fridge (it's spill proof, the only thing I had to do was put it back in the correct position.), me telling him it's breakfast, lunch and dinner time, opening the door after his nap... what else? Oh, turning off Blue's Clue's after he's watched his one episode, touching his head softly to ask him to move (he has a tendancy to stand right in front of me, especially when I'm in the kitchen.) or I have noticed that he'll simply start crying for absolutely no reason at all and then he brings his show to me after he's really worked himself up.

So I have to ask myself after only two pitiful weeks. ARE WE DONE YET?!?!

Oh- and yes I still love my little boy! I just wish that we both didn't have to experience this little part of growing up. Will I look back one day and laugh about this? only time will tell.



Aside from my Ayden testing where my line really is, we started Ethan on baby cereal! He'll be 5 months old the 20th of this month and we figured this would be a good time to let him wet his whistle and give baby cereal a try. This photo here is us arriving at McKay's tennis lessons, cereal eating photos are below. I really should write about what's going on next to the actual photos. Anyway, I caught Ethan licking the pooh-ma-jiggers. I don't really know what those are called exactly. Ayden liked to suck on their ears and Ethan licks them. :) Both happen to be very cute to me! Ethan's little tongue seem so pointy. McKay had to cancel his tennis lessons because it started to thunder and rain yesterday. So we didn't get to play around on the playground as much as we would have liked, but I'm glad we went purely for the sake of me being able to capture this photo.


Ok- Now that I'm to the correct photos, I can start talking about baby cereal. Which is clearly a big deal in our little family. haha To start off, poor Ethan was pretty upset about his seating arrangement. He was not happy about being strapped down. McKay started off giving him a little bit of cereal and he didn't quite understand how he was supposed to eat it.

We stuck a binki in his mouth so he'd suck on the binki and by default, suck the cereal down his throat. :) It worked for a bit, but McKay got sick of pulling the binki out only to hear Ethan screech in protest. Simple solution? Get rid of the binki and keep his mouth full of cereal so he has no room to cry. All in all- first try was a bust, BUT he did get enough down that he slept solidy from 8pm to 8am. I forget that solid food does that to babies. We were very proud of this first attempt!

He sure is a cutie!

problem

Hey- so on my computer it's showing that some of my images can't pop up. Are you guys having the same issue viewing any of my photos?? Also-- I posted a new link to our family photos... can you guys try to open it and see if you can actually get into it? You don't have to look at any of the pictures. I just want to make sure that you can actually view them if you so desire!

Thanks!

Jack the Cat

Jack the Cat

We have a great cat named jack--the kids carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothers him. Mostly he's prone to hang out and nap all day long on the rug in our bathroom.

Bill and I have two sons, aged 4 and 3 years old, and a 1-year old daughter. The 3-year old is Eli. For whatever reason, Eli really love chapstick. LOVES it. He keeps asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So, finally, one day i showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick an told him he could use it whenever he wanted to, but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

It was Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around, trying to get ready for church with everyone crying and carrying on. The two boys had been fighting over the toy in the cereal box. The baby was fussy, and I was trying to nurse her at the same time I was putting on my make-up. It was chaos.

Finally we got the older boy and the baby loaded in the car and wer were looking for Eli. Bill and I had searched everywhere- I finally went into the bathroom, and there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped." Now, if you have a cat,you know that Eli is right-- their little butts do look kind of chapped. Jack was being his usual laid-back self and, frankly, didn't seem to be minding the attention.

Bill's eyes met mine. . . you know, one of the parental, mind-meld moments. The question that came simultaneously to Bill and me in that moment was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cats behind or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever, because it reminds me that no matter how hard we try to civilize these little ankle biters, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.