I love my mom!

As my journey of motherhood progresses with each passing day, I am more keenly aware of the love and sacrifice my mother has given and still gives to me. I can't believe the ironies that I have found since I have become a mother. When you're little you think that your parents just shouldn't yell at you. It's that easy. Now I really have to make a conscious effort to stop yelling and remain patient. I don't know how many times I've said, "How many times do I have to tell you!?", which is a phrase that I heard a couple times when I was younger ;) Not to mention all the times I have to ask, "Are you even listening to me?" (husband included in that question). What can I say? I have turned into my own mother, which isn't a bad thing at all. My mom is a very talented woman. I just wanted to write about a couple things that make her so endearing to me. She can play a very mean game of racquetball; she's an excellent spinster (the exercise class); she could wear anyone out in a shopping day, or even in a regular day; she's an amazing grandma to my kids (and her other grandchildren as well); she's an amazing saleswoman--she's the only one I know who can sell temple clothing and lingerie at the same time; she's so ticklish that my dad can't even attempt to tickle her without risking the loss of his favorite appendage; she's willing at any time of day or night to play games; I've always been jealous of her because she's allergic to make-up, and still looks gorgeous; and she stayed up into the wee hours of the morning waiting for me (and all my siblings) to come home from parties, etc., sacrificing many hours of sleep. She's an excellent example of making the effort it requires to keep family ties together. She has done so much for her brothers, sisters, and her own parents. Most of all, she is an amazing example of anything gospel related. She's got such a strong testimony, and taught us all so much about remaining true to your testimony. I love you, mom, and hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day (and belated birthday on Cinco de Mayo).

A lot has happened...

First things first, Jaycee just celebrated her 4th birthday last Sunday. She was so excited, and couldn't wait to open her presents. She actually tried bargaining and making deals with me to see if she could trade a pair of her shoes for the flip-flops I bought her for her birthday. She'd say, "But I don't want the flip-flops for my birthday, I want them now. You can give these ones for my birthday." She is such a thinker. I can't believe I have a four-year-old. She starts school in junior kindergarten this September, and I've had very mixed emotions. I never imagined she would grow up so fast, and it just keeps getting faster, but I also think she is ready to learn from someone else besides me. So, I would have taken a ton more pictures of Jaycee on her birthday, but my camera's batteries were dead, and we were totally out of new ones. I did get the video of her blowing out the candles, though, which took forever. We were mentioning in the video that she was going at a Master Uguay pace (Kung Fu Panda) and we needed Master Shifu to come blow them out with his Kung Fu fury (forgive the spelling of the names, I have no idea what it would be). As a sidenote: I bought Jaycee a little cake from the store, but it wasn't that exciting, and she told me she didn't like that cake. She wanted another Dora cake like last year. I decided to try and make her a Dora one, and it really looked a lot better in real life than in the video. Not to mention the fact that Jaycee decided to poke her Dora's out with the candles, which makes it look really creepy. I also know that there are eight candles on the cake. Jaycee just wanted to keep putting them on, and it's not like we'd be able to find those candles next year anyway.

The other day I heard Jaycee in her room laughing hysterically. This is what I found...

She thought she was hilarious.


Rydge has had thrush for a while now because I can't remember to give the medicine four times a day all the time, so this syringe has become his playmate. I'll give him the medicine, then he'll crawl around with it in his hand and suck on it. Speaking of growing up, doesn't he just look so grown-up. I can't believe he's going to be one in a month and a half.

This happened a couple weeks ago. Normal bathtime routine, but I decided that Rydge was having so much fun that he could stay in while I washed Jaycee's hair. Bad mistake. I wasn't thinking about not letting him stand up, and of course he slipped. I couldn't believe he split his eye open on the bathtub. Lance had just left to go study at the school, and I had to flag him down from a window frantically while the blood was pouring down Rydge's face. I was so glad Lance saw me and came back. We debated back and forth about whether or not to take him to the ER, but decided not to. Afterward I decided that the feeling of guilt you have when you think you should have taken your child in to a doctor and didn't outweighs everything else. I couldn't believe how bad I felt. We didn't want to take him anywhere because we could just hear the comments: "Whoa, and you didn't take him to the doctor?" Anyway, now there's just a thin pink line, and he will have a scar, but I don't think stitches would have made it any less noticable. This kid is so tough. He only cried until I picked him up, but then he stopped. He was very wiggly, and wouldn't let us touch his eye, but he hardly cried at all.

Just playing at the park. I love warm weather.

I had to take a picture of Rydge's cuddle moment with daddy. He's always cuddly with me, but hardly ever cuddly with Lance. He plays with Lance.

More pictures of Jaycee's dance recital. I'm too lazy to put them onto the other post.

Dance Recital!

Jaycee had her first dance recital a little while ago. She had been sick a week before and wasn't feeling good at the recital. I just thought I would give that as part of the excuse as to why she isn't dancing at all. It was out of my hands by then, and all we could do was sit back and laugh at her lack of doing anything at all besides suck on her hands. I actually wasn't even going to take her to the dance recital, but at the last minute I decided to ask her if she wanted to go, and she said she did. Lance thought I was crazy to decide to go ten minutes before it started. We were a little late, but the program hadn't started yet. Then I realized that, being the scatterbrained person I am, I had forgotten Jaycee's dance shoes. Who does that? I know, only me. It's not like I had a lot to remember. Anyway, Melissa did a wonderful job teaching these girls, and Jaycee had a lot of fun. She even put together a video for the girls. Thanks, Melissa. On the way home Jaycee told us that she was just dancing really slow. Yeah, maybe. I don't think so. Just in case you can't tell, she's the one on the right with her hands in her mouth. A side note: I hope this doesn't sound like I'm being rude about Jaycee. I love her and think she is the cutest little girl in the world. We've just decided that dance might not be her thing.

He's crawling everywhere!

A while ago (as in March 27th) Rydge started crawling. He was so close for such a long time. He had good positioning, good form, and the muscle strength, but could not get his arms to move alternately. Then while waiting in the doctor's office for his 9-month check-up he just started crawling all over the bench they have the kids sit on. He was so proud of himself and did not want to be contained by sitting on my lap. This video is old news now because he has gotten so fast at crawling, but it was so cute when he was just starting. He reminded us of a frog.

A couple key points or disclaimers to talk about before viewing this video clip because Lance thinks we look like a disfunctional family.

1. Jaycee starts out by saying she's scared a tornado's gonna come, which is something she has been doing randomly throughout the day. No worries, there wasn't even any wind.

2. My daughter bonks Rydge's head on the floor and I laugh. Not cool, I know. It just happens a lot.

3. I don't normally let my baby suck on batteries.

Along with picking crawling up on the 27th, Rydge also figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position in the same day. I'm so proud of my little guy. Jaycee made Rydge fall in this video, too, but he didn't get hurt.

Here's a little video I took while I had preschool at my house. It's been so fun having these kids get together. We were missing Drey, the poor only boy, and these girls were pretty wild. So many fights over toys it's almost comical. I have to apologize to the moms if they don't allow their girls to jump on the bed. They love it when they come to my house. (I don't know why Jaycee was crying. I think she hurt herself right at the first.)

A glimpse of our spring break

Once again, I failed miserably at remembering to take pictures so I could document all the fun times we had. We are so grateful to our parents for catering to us and making sure we had an excellent time. This picture below shows the only circumstance that Rydge would allow anyone to hold him. After he was asleep I could hand him off. Other than that, he would cry anytime anyone tried to take him from me. Towards the end he finally got used to being around other people, but that was just in time for us to leave. The only time he let anyone else hold him without him crying was when I was getting my hair done. I went to my sister (who is in beauty school) to have her cut my hair and give me some highlights. She did a great job, and I have enjoyed having short hair for a change. While that was happening my mom and sister-in-law were watching Rydge, and he let Vanessa hold him. When I went to take him from her he didn't recognize me (I cut quite 6 or 7 inches off my hair) and wanted to go back to Vanessa. It took me three tries to convince him that it was me. I got a taste of how he was treating everyone else, and did not like it one bit. I love my momma's boy!

We went to a kids playplace that had a dress-up room, and Jaycee loved it. She is always wearing dresses to dance around in at home. Take note of the fingers playing with her neck. That's a remnant of her sucking her thumb. She would suck one thumb and play with her neck with the other hand. She still does the neck thing to go to sleep or when she's tired.

This is Jaycee's cousin, Cael, and they are inseparable when they get together. She was convinced she was sleeping with Cael that night, so she snuggled right up next to him, and we had to pry her away from him.

We spent a lot of time swimming at the hotel pools. We stayed in a hotel two nights so the men (Lance, his dad, brother, brother-in-law, and my dad) could float down the Snake River in the drift boats. The weather cooperated so well that they were able to float three days in a row. They were in heaven, I can assure you. I was fine staying back with the kids. They were pushing the fishing season just a little bit. Anyway, Jaycee floated around everywhere with this ladybug floatie. She loved it.

Rydge is showing off his two new shiny teeth. They were just barely breaking through. He loved kicking and splashing in the water.

We can't forget about Jaycee's other favorite cousins. These cute girls are my brother's kids, Kynzee and Kambrie, and they have so much girly fun when they're together. A lot of giggling and screaming goes on.
Something I don't have pictures of right now is when we went with my family and played around in the Paris elementary school gym. We had so much fun with all the little kid toys. Hopefully I can get some of the pictures my mom took.

This picture has nothing to do with our spring break except for the fact that it shows how tired Jaycee has been since we got back . She has taken more naps than usual because of our busy schedule we were keeping. This shows how she took one of her naps the other day. I just had to take a picture because she has never fallen asleep in weird places, but this time she did. She told me that she was cold, and then I hear snoring. So cute.
Now that we are back in Wisconsin, we are having great weather, and are taking full advantage of being outside. I love being able to go the park with Jaycee, but she never wants to leave, which is a problem. We miss family, but we'll be able to see them soon for summer.

Spring Break's almost here!

In a couple days we are headed off to visit family for Spring Break. We can't wait to have a break from our normal routine. Even if it is cold in Idaho as well, it will be a refreshing trip. I just thought I'd give the grandparents a preview of all this cuteness that will be heading their way. Jaycee couldn't be more excited to go get spoiled rotten and have someone's undivided attention. She will have everyone sick of playing babies with her by the time we leave. Here's Rydge eating some whipped cream (again). What can I say, we love our treats.

What's up with that double chin? She looks like Rydge (see next pictures).

These aren't the greatest pictures, but Jaycee took them of Rydge, and I think they show a ton of his character. You can also see how much he loves his sister. Only she can get those kind of smiles whenever she looks at him. He's such a happy baby.

Cute baby laughs!

The other day I was feeding Rydge and he was in the happiest mood. It was so cute, so I had to pull the camera out. He's such a happy baby, as long as I am right there with him. He is such a momma's boy, and I love it. He really cries every time I set him down, or whenever I leave the room. I got a couple phone calls from familly members asking if I was okay after I did my last blog post. I assured them I was fine, and Rydge is actually doing a lot better with his sleeping. So, I thought I'd post this to make up for my complaining. I love his little tongue when he curls it. He is also quite drooly if you can't tell from the video. Mix that with a little food, and it's pretty gross.

This is what Rydge looks like when his daddy feeds him. He's not very conducive to clean feedings. He wiped it all over his forehead if you can see it on the picture.

I miss my sleep!

Rydge is learning how to scoot around everywhere and got stuck under the couch.

Rydge is getting almost as big as Jaycee.

Well, due to a recent lack of sleep lately, I haven't had much motivation to blog. I cannot figure little Rydge-a-roo out for the life of me, and have decided that between mine and Lance's families it could be highly likely that Rydge got a triple (or more) dose of stubbornness built into him. He is a fighter, and I do not have the motivation or willpower to fight him. I am the only thing/person that can soothe him. He doesn't do patting, rubbing, binkies, bottles, anyone else putting him to sleep, and he won't sleep in his crib. It was my New Year's resolution to get him sleeping better, and not sleeping in my bed when he wakes up for an early morning feeding. We have only gone backwards from there and I have failed miserably. I have let him cry every night for a week straight, and he only put himself to sleep twice. The other times I gave up after 1 1/2 hours or more of his crying. I can only listen to him for so long before I start thinking it's borderline child abuse. I also can't get through a night without feeding him 2-4 times. That's not how it's supposed to be after 7 1/2 months. Anyway, I am not meaning to complain, but I was just wondering if there are any ideas out there that I have been overlooking. I can't believe how much different my little guy has been from his sister. I have come to appreciate how easy it was to get Jaycee to sleep when she was a baby. It must be a boy thing, maybe?

Disclaimer: After all the sleep he deprives me of, I can't help but grin from ear to ear when he smiles at me in the morning. He is such a sweetheart, and I love him so much. I think he is adorable and forgive him the instant he wakes up. I love the fact that he adores me, and thinks the world of me.

There's no place like home for the Holidays!

Living in Wisconsin is great. We love the trees, the houses, and we have tons of friends, but when comparing it to being in Bear Lake, Idaho it just isn't the same. We love the opportunities we get to go home and see family. Thanks to both sets of parents for helping out with the tickets to get us home. Jaycee and Rydge were wonderful on the plane, but Rydge was understandably less excited to drive the three hours from Salt Lake to Bear Lake. No exaggerations when I say that he screamed from Evanston to Garden City (two hours). We pulled over three or four times to feed him and change his diaper, but he was just sick of traveling and I can't say that I blame him. I felt the same way, but it would have been weird if I had acted like that.

My mom bought this cute dancing outfit at a craft fair. Jaycee loved it!

I look at all the pictures my parents took of my Christmases and cringe. I always pulled cheesy grins, had tired eyes and extremely messy hair. Now I can continue that tradition for Jaycee. I thought about combing her hair, but who expects to look good on Christmas morning?

Rydge is such a snuggler. I love it.

Yes...Jaycee received dinosaurs from Santa Clause. He is so cool for giving those to her because she loves them.

Grandma J. and Uncle Chase.

What's a vacation without getting in the hot tub a couple times? Rydge had so much fun being in the hot tub. Every time we took him out he would scream.

I realized after we got back to Wisconsin that I was having so much fun that I didn't take very many pictures. I'm so glad we were able to spend so much time with our families, and look forward to our next visit.