Speed. I am speed.

Last night our ward had a Pinewood Derby for an activity. Everyone who wanted to make a car was invited to do so. We did it last year as well. Last year we had my dad to help out with the cars and we borrowed a friend's saw. This year we didn't have access to a saw so we came up with designs for rectangular cars. Matt had a Wii car.

Thomas has a bus. We even wrote "Thomas County Schools" on the bus. The yellow blur you see in the picture of the race track is Thomas' bus winning!

The boys had a lot of fun. Their cars did quite well. They each won a few races and got to race against each other. Thomas got 6th place overall and Matt got 8th. Not bad for two rectangular cars to get in the top ten!

I'm a nerd. I love to dress my boys in matching clothes. I have to admit that it is getting harder to find clothes in size 6 that matches size 1. They sure are cute though. (I'm having issues with putting my pictures up in this post. Sorry if the words are all jumbled in with the pictures. Dumb free blog)

Bedtime plotting and princesses

Last night the boys were goofing around as usual and we had to separate them. Matt usually gets put into our bed. Well, moments later we hear pitter patter upstairs and we find that Thomas has also gone into our bed. As long as they go to sleep I don't care where they are. I decided a while later to check on the boys. They are talking nicely and so I don't interrupt. I did, however, stand there and listen for a while. This is the conversation I heard:

Matt, "Hey Thomas. I have to tell you something."

Thomas, "What?"

M: "Did you know that I really like Princess movies?"

T: "What?! "

M: "Ha! April Fools!"

They both giggle.

T: "Hey Matt. I really like mermaid movies. April Fools!"

More giggling.

M: "We have a lot of princess movies. We need to get rid of them"

T: "Yeah. Maybe we should sell them"

M: "Who should we sell them to?"

T: "I know! Claire. She likes mermaid movies"

M: "She really likes princess movies. We'll sell them to Claire."

I left as they were plotting on how to get rid of the movies. I was a little worried that they would actually try to clear them off the shelf and get rid of them. I don't think the boys have ever seen any of the princess movies. Thomas did see Little Mermaid at Claire's house and enjoyed it. I keep telling them that there are battles with swords and dragons, and a big beast, and magic, but they still won't listen to me. We do remind them from time to time that there is a princess in Star Wars as well. Maybe the boys would like it better if Cinderella or Belle had a blaster or lightsaber.

9 months old

Timmy has officially been out of the womb longer than he was inside. It has gone by so quickly. Why does time with a baby always go faster than time being pregnant? Oh well. We have a lot of updates on Timmy this month. He is still sleeping through the night in a bed (well, a pack and play). I can even put him down while he is awake and smiling at me and he'll put himself to sleep.

He is sitting up completely on his own. It's nice to be able to put him down in front of a box of toys and he will stay put for quite a while. He enjoys taking the toys out and I keep putting them back in. What is his favorite toy-you ask? Well, it's his socks. He loves to take them off and then wave them around and then put them in his mouth. If you catch him in the act of taking off his sock and ask him, "are you taking your sock off?", he will smile and then laugh triumphantly when he gets it off. He is even really good at taking them off while sitting in a grocery cart.

Timmy is a good shopping buddy. We go to all sorts of stores together. He's a very social person and will charm anyone who is looking at him. In fact he charmed a lady in the check out line by waving at her when she was waving at him. I told her that it was the first time he had ever done that and she was very proud of herself that she was instrumental in the development of a new trick (I overheard her in the parking lot talking about it on her phone!). He also thinks it's funny to shake his head "no". I recently bought him a duck bath tub. It is the perfect size for him and I don't have to waste a ton of water filling up the tub. I don't have to constantly hold him and worry about him hitting his head on the tub because the sides of the duck are very padded. And, it quacks and echos in the bath tub. I highly recommend getting one. Well worth $11.Last week he pushed himself up on his hands and knees. He can only hold it for a few seconds and then he flops down on the floor. It's only a matter of time before he's crawling. He is getting better at eating. He refuses peas and squash. It is almost entertaining to watch the reactions to the foods he doesn't care for. The grimaces, the shudders, the gags, the spitting out, aah, it's wonderful. Too bad an adult can't get away with it sometimes. I've been giving him the Gerber Puffs to snack on and he really enjoys that (as long as he can't see the entire canister because then he wants the whole thing. The boys enjoy feeding him and it is easier to go places as well. Recently he didn't want to eat his cereal and so I decided to give him a tactile experience and let him squish the cereal on his tray. He thought it was great and even tried to get food in his mouth. The boys thought is was hilarious! He will also take a bottle very well and will drink formula if needed. This is a huge change from what I dealt with when the other two were younger.

We drove down to Asheville, NC a few weeks ago and Timmy was an ideal baby in the car. He took naps, we stopped twice for bathroom and nursing, and he only fussed a couple minutes before he just looked out the window. It was a very nice trip down and even back (although for the last hour the boys were hitting each other, but all in all it was quite nice). While on vacation Timmy mastered going down a slide.

Matt wrote this on my parent's driveway. He'd getting very good at reading and writing.

Quite an eventful month. He's such a happy fun baby. I may just have another one!

(Not an announcement! Are you kidding me? He's only 9 months old! I would be crazy to try to have another one now. I'm just saying that he makes having a baby look easy. That's all, Nothing more.)

Happy Easter

I found this video earlier and I thought it is appropriate for Easter. Let's remember the real reason for Easter.

Learning how to read

It is amazing how well Matt is learning how to read. He reads things everywhere we go. It's so fun to hear him read books to his brothers. I recently got a new cookbook (no big surprise there). Matt read the title and apparently I got a book called, "Mastering the Girl." I wonder what that book would be about. Hmmmmm.....

8 months old!

Timmy is now 8 months old. It seems just like a week ago that I was writing about his 7 month highlights. Let's see, what has he done that's new this month?

Well, he slept in his bed. He is now sleeping in his Pack & Play and I will keep him in it until after our vacation. He is rolling all over the place and can push his entire torso up on his arms. It's only a matter of time before he gets his knees up under him. Then I'll really have to clean the floor on a regular basis. He can do the "beached whale" really well. You know the move- it's where he's on his stomach and his legs and arms are off the ground kicking wildly. I actually tried to do it. It's a full body work out.

We're still working on introducing new foods. When there is a food he doesn't like he closes his lips very tight. He's very stubborn. He actually refused applesauce the first 4 times I offered it to him. He gobbled up the entire jar when I first gave him peaches. We'll try peas next week. I'm sure that will go over well.

Timmy got to have his first play date this past month. His friend (who is 3 months younger) flew in to stay with us. The first time he saw her he tried to grab her hand. Then she went in for the kiss. She watched him a lot as he showed off his rolling skills. We also went over to a friend's house who has twin boys. They are a couple months older than Timmy. They entertained him and made his laugh alot.

I realized that I don't have too many pictures from the last month. I wanted to get one of him sleeping in his bed. Oh well. He are a couple of our big boy.

Giving up the car seat

Last Friday night Timmy gave up sleeping in his car seat and slept (the whole night) IN HIS BED!!!!!!


He did this because his friend, Caroline, was flying in the next day and she needed to use his infant car seat. Isn't he thoughtful? He gave up the car seat for her and just in time. He rolls onto his stomach and sleeps quite well. Of course the first few nights I checked on him about every hour because I found him with his face planted into the mattress and that freaked me out. I guess after a couple days he figured out that it's not comfortable to sleep on his face and now he turns his head just fine. It's been nearly a whole week now and I am so happy....


Until 2 days ago when I found out that his crib is being recalled. If you have a crib made by Delta check out this site.


The web site said that I will be sent a kit to install safety measures on the crib, but until then I should stop using it immediately. So now we are going to have to try to get him to sleep in the Pack & Play. I'm so frustrated. I was so excited to have him sleeping in his crib and now we might have to start all over again. Granted it's important to keep him safe.


At least he'll be prepared for spring break when he'll have to sleep in the Pack & Play anyway. I should look on the bright side...at least I'll have a child who will sleep in that thing. The other two didn't.

Why?!!!

This is as in, "Why do kids do what they do?" and also as in why, when you ask a child, "Why did you do that?", the answer is ALWAYS "I don't know". Let me illustrate.

Tonight is Wed (Doug' has a meeting at church and then basketball night) and with that I get to get the boys ready, and to bed on my own. This isn't usually a big deal. I deal with much worse. But today I am very tired and my head hurts. I didn't get to sleep last night until 2:30 and then I've had the stress of organizing and preparing a meal for 65 women at church this week. Today I made (with some help) 4 pans of lasagna (add that to the 4 pans of lasagna I already made and froze last week), and I also forgot to eat all day with the exception of breakfast. Also my nursing schedule has been off schedule today so all day my chest felt like it was going to explode. Anyway, I got the boys in bed just fine with the warning of "if I come upstairs and you're goofing around I WILL separate you!". Then I settled down to feed Timmy and watch some TV.

Minutes later Thomas announces he has to go stinky. OK, he can deal with that just fine. Besides I'm still feeding Timmy. I hear the toilet flush and all is well. Until, my mommy ears detect giggling. Thinking that they are in their room goofing around I wait until Timmy is done, and proceed to catch them in the act.


Oh, I caught them in the act alright. You know the phrase, "caught with your hand in the cookie jar"? Well, they weren't in the cookie jar, they were in another porcelain container. Yep, that's right. I caught Matt swirling the toilet paper in the toilet. There's water on the floor and both their hands are wet and the Pj's are wet to the elbows. Why me?! Before you completely gross out, I have to tell you that the stinky had been flushed away, so it was just toilet paper. But still, it's pretty gross.


After we changed PJ tops and washed and sanitized our hands I separated them as promised. When I asked "Why did you put your hand in the toilet?" both boys said, "I don't know". (Must be brain damage). And to top it off when I came back downstairs Timmy was crying because he had stinky pants as well. ( I need to mention the he is the king of rolling around while getting his pants changed now). Doug's only been gone a little over an hour.


So, is there another way to ask kids these questions so you can get reasonable answers? Just don't say the word "Why." Should I have said, "what possessed you to do that?", or maybe "how did you feel when you did that?". However, both of these questions can also be answered with "I don't know" Anyone have good ideas of the correct way to ask a child a question without saying the word "why"?


I think I have some Samoa cookies hiding somewhere. Then when Doug gets home and asks "Why did you eat all the Samoas?" I'll answer "I don't know."

Happily Ever After

Today is our ninth wedding anniversary. This song (Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys) got Doug and I really thinking about marriage while we were dating. I remember that this song came on the radio and I was listening to the words, and I said to him, "Wouldn't it be nice to say good night and stay together?"


Anyway, it's a cute song and I like this Disney interpretation. Doug is my Prince Charming who rescues me when I'm down. He is my Beast who is willing to try to change things to make me happy. He is like Prince Eric because he too got to live happily ever after with the redhead. Tarzan discovered that Jane was the same as him because of her heart, and it is Doug's heart that gives away his secrets. I knew the first time he was going to kiss me because I heard his heart pounding. And again his heart ruined the element of surprise when Doug was proposing. And like Aladdin, Doug has shown me a whole new world of kindness and laughter and love. I remember that, once while we were dating, someone asked Doug what quality he loved in me and he said, "She holds herself like a queen." I guess someone needs to be the princess around here in a house of 4 boys. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What part of "I just need it thinned out. No layers" do you not understand?

Well, apparently the guy cutting my hair didn't understand anything.

So yesterday I went to get my hair cut. It had been at least 8 months and was getting pretty thick and heavy so it really needed to be thinned out. I found a coupon for this salon that supposedly specializes in curly hair. So I thought I'd give it a try.

I went in and got to have my hair washed. I love that part. Then I sit in my chair and I proceed to instruct the guy on what my hair needed. "Trim it to here (hands at shoulders), I need it really thinned out. It's so thick I get headaches. No layers though. The shorter my hair gets, the curlier it gets." Of course he should understand that-right? He's a curly hair specialist. Well, this other guy (I think he is the man in charge) walks by and speaks to my haircutter in a language I don't recognize and my haircutter says something to him. Then the boss man asks me something and I answer and then he translates to my haircutter. To my horror, I realized that the man with the scissors may not understand English very well, let alone anything I said. Well, he starts in on the trim and so far so good. Then he gets out the thinning shears. Ok. I keep feeling my hair to make sure that it gets nice and thinned out. Ok so far. Then the boss guy comes by and asks me if I want my hair angled by my face. "No", I say. "It will curl up too much". The guy cutting my hair asks me. "you want bangs?" ""No", I say.

Anyway, when all was done the guy put gel and stuff in my hair and of course it looks cute (it always does at the Salon. You can never recreate what they do when you get home). But then, as he gets out the blow dryer and diffuser I notice the tell-tale curl off to the side of my head. A sure sign that some of my hair around my face was cut too short. Aaaagh. Not again! I hate it when the hair around my face is too short. Anyway. I get out and get home to analize what was done to my hair. Yes, it is nicely thinned out. As I reach around to the back of my hair I realize that I can feel the different areas where the hair is shorter than other areas. Nooooo! That's a layer! I said no layers!

Needless to say, I now actually have to do my hair in the morning and find a way to pin down psycho curl off the side of my head. I don't even know if the hair around my face is still long enough to put in a pony tail. I seriously need to find someone that understands curly hair and that will listen to me. It is my hair and I know it better than any professional. If anyone out there knows of a good place without spending too much money, please let me know.

Oh, and make sure they speaka my language.

If this is offensive to anyone out there, I am sorry. I am a little miffed at having to deal with another bad hair cut again!