life as an average housewife...

Haiven Four Months

2012-02-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

She does not like oatmeal cereal after trying it for the first time, can you tell? We will keep trying though, because I want her to eat food, regardless of texture, unlike a certain big brother...
p.s. In case anyone was wondering, yes that is a Bumbo chair she is sitting in and no we don't ever leave her unattended or turn our backs on her for a second. Although, after I've seen all the reports of skull fractures from babies falling out of them on the floor, I will no longer be using it on countertops or raised surfaces. We are going to get out the trusty highchair!

Sweet little Haiven continues to grow and grow! At four months she weighs 14 lbs. (60%), is 24 in. long (60%), and her head is in the 94th percentile. What can I say? My kids have ginormous heads and hopefully they lots of brain power to go with it! Haiven continues to be such a little sweetheart. She is always good for a smile unless you are a strange man or are wearing a hat, then you get the pouty lip. She definitely smiles more for women than she does for men, but she sure loves her brother, daddy, grandpas, and uncles. It's weird because she seems to know who her family is because she usually cries when strangers talk to her, but when family talks to her that she hasn't seen in months, she gives them big smiles. We are starting to hit milestones now, which is very exciting, but sad at the same time because she is growing up so fast! She can roll from her back to her stomach, but not the other way around. She loves to coo and squawks like a parrot. She gets super excited when she's naked before her bath and loves to kick and splash. She already had her first haircut over a month ago. She had about 2 in. cut off the back and about 1 in. around her ears. She was growing a mullet, it had to go, so we gave her a cute little pixie cut at two months old! It is already growing out again, but we will let it grow. I can already put cute little piggy tails, barrettes, and things in her hair. I will have to take some pictures and post them! For the most part she continues to sleep through the night and naps throughout the day. She is a stinker to feed (like somebody else we know), but she is gaining weight and she is healthy, so I don't worry. Personally, I think she is ready for baby food and is sick of so much baba. She always watches us when we eat and gets excited. We already started rice cereal, so I think this weekend we will start her on some fruits and vegetables, don't worry, already cleared it with the pediatrician! I cannot believe we are already starting baby food! Time is really flying by, so this time around I am trying to live in the moment and enjoy both the good and bad of the baby stage! We are all still so in love with our sweet baby Haivi!

Blackmail

2012-02-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

In his defense, he liked wearing my high heels because they make a loud "click clack" noise when he walks, but I do love his pose!
This day he picked out his own clothes. He obviously likes the layered look like his dad. That pose is high fashion!
I don't know why, but he loves my lipgloss and chapstick and somehow he always manages to find it and use it all up in one application.
He is mighty proud of those boots and he pretty much has to wear them everywhere.
My dad threatened to call DCFS. He said obviously Taj was getting too much exposure to the nursing world!

I think these photos may come in handy someday when Taj is misbehaving as a teenager. I'm sure they will carry a lot of leverage and I just might be able to keep him in line!

I know it has been a long time since I last posted so I thought I would give a little update on Taj. Preschool has been amazing for him! He is actually speaking sentences now and he actually wants to know what everything is and he will now repeat about everything we say (Which means I have to be especially careful what I say when I trip over his toys). His latest default reply to everything that he doesn't want to do is, "No! We don't hit, we don't hit!" He will usually say this when we tell him it's time for bed or for quiet time. He also says this to things like doors, toys, walls, etc. when he stubs his toe or runs into them. He is also really good at following classroom procedure and doing what the teachers ask him to do. He has awesome teachers and I'm so thankful for them! He is still as stubborn as ever and lately he has ended up in our bed every night at about 2 a.m. I hope that is a phase that will quickly work itself out! I can't get any sleep with that bony creature right in my back as he refuses to sleep anywhere else, BUT against my back and on my pillow. Haiven loves him more than ever and he is always guaranteed a smile from her. I'm sure I will have two very wild kids on my hands when she is able to walk! He calls her "Haivi" and "baby tister" and "booboos," and then he usually kisses her or tickles her feet or rubs her hair. As wild as Taj is, he does have a sweet side that loves hugs and kisses from momma and every time he hears baby Haivi crying, he will run to her rescue. I think he will do a great job protecting his little sister someday! We love Taj so much and there is not one day that goes by that he doesn't make us laugh!

Snow Day

2012-01-08T18:16:00.001-08:00

The little stinker refuses to wear gloves outside and so he usually comes in about 15 min. after being out there because he's "cold." Here he is holding his hands out to me to blow on them and warm them up for him:)

We finally got our first snow storm last week and I was totally surprised at how much Taj loves to stomp around in the snow. He usually doesn't like to be cold, but he loves his snow boots and I think he like the "crunch" sound that the snow makes under his boots. I'm glad that he likes to play in the snow and be outside. I did when I was a kid and I love that he gets to get out and be active and get away from the TV!

Haiven

2012-01-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

Me and Haiven with cousin JoJo and Auntie Lacey

Little Miss Haivi has definitely captured the hearts in our home. We are absolutely positively in love with her and can't get enough of her. Even Taj is enthralled with her and he's very protective of her still. He doesn't like other people touching her and he doesn't even like it when I put cute barrettes and bows or headbands in her hair. One of the first things he does every morning is to make sure baby sister is okay and to give her a kiss. Haiven is still such a good sleeper and continues to sleep through the night even though she naps during the day. She has such a sweet disposition and she is so smiley. She loves to coo and loves to be held and loved on, which we are more than happy to do. We are so thankful for our sweet little Haivi!

Cousin Livy

2012-01-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

A little attitude from Livy at Temple Square

Taj has the attitude in this picture!

Taj and Alivia are so cute together. They play hard together and both are very stubborn, but they get along very well. In fact, I believe Taj even lets Livy boss him around, something that not even me or Brannon is successful at. Well, he should be well trained by the time he has a wife someday!

The Kawasaki

2012-01-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

This and the following posts are more than belated! The holidays were a busy season for us as we traveled across the state to visit family. For Christmas this year we gave Taj a Kawasaki PowerWheels fourwheeler. As usual Brannon couldn't wait to give it to Taj for Christmas, so Taj got it a week before Christmas. At least he made it to a week before Christmas this year:) Taj cannot get enough of that fourwheeler and our backyard shows it! He's basically worn a track into our grass and there are bald spot everywhere where he's spun out. He is still too light to keep the wheels from spinning out. The scary thing is that he has no fear on it, just like his dad and I'm afraid that he will have to learn the hard way like his dad did. This was a pricey gift, but so worth it to not have Taj stuck inside all day with cabin fever! If you ever come over to watch him ride it, he will be sure to parade it around the yard for you, zigzagging in high speed and slamming it in reverse without ever taking his foot off the pedal, and if you're lucky, he might even stand up while he's riding it for you:)

Box Fort

2011-12-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

Big, empty boxes make for awesome forts, except when you get stuck in a window that is way too small for your head, let alone your entire body! I don't know what it is with Taj and his need to stick his arms, legs, or head through small spaces. This is definitely not the first time he's been stuck. I've pulled his head out of our front porch railing and his feet out of the back of our kitchen chairs on several occasions! I think it must be a boy thing, but I guess Haiven will test that theory when she gets older!

Santa

2011-12-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

I don't think Santa could have been any happier to have Taj sit on his lap. Either Santa was having a really bad day or he's muscling through the gag reflex while Taj sat on his lap with a poopy diaper! Gross right? Well Taj was the next kid in line and there was no way he was going to go to the back of the line over a poopy diaper! Hopefully Taj is still on the nice list.

Lights

2011-12-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

We ventured out to see the lights at Temple Square last weekend and we didn't last very long at all! It was so cold and slick that we spent most of our time at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and in the the visitor center. We did a quick walk through of the lights and then headed home, but Taj did seem to enjoy the lights (an his hand warmer) a lot more this year and that made the trip worth it! Temple Square lights are definitely worth seeing for those of you wondering whether or not it's worth it to take the kids out in the cold!

Blessing Day

2011-12-08T22:14:00.001-08:00

Taj and his cousin Alivia with Grandpa Shuck (another nickname):)

We blessed Haiven on the 4th of December. Both me and Brannon's families traveled all the way up north to come for her blessing only to find out that church had been cancelled on account of the wind damage from earlier in the week! We thought our neighbor (who is in the Bishopric) was joking when he told us church was cancelled because the debris from the storm needed to be cleaned up. Well he was not joking, but we did get to bless Haiven anyway, much to our joy and relief! We blessed her in our living room and Brannon did a great job despite the noise Taj and his cousin Livy were making. Taj actually crawled between the legs of the men blessing Haivi during the blessing and sat on the floor right under Haivi as they blessed her, all the while kicking his legs and making gremlin noises. Livy wanted to know why she couldn't join "T Man" and expressed this loudly! Somehow Brannon was able to do a wonderful job blessing Haiven through all the distraction. It was actually kind of neat to bless Haiven in our home. It was definitely a blessing we will all remember!

Nicknames

2011-12-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

Haivi loves her daddy as long as he doesn't talk in his baby voice!

Check out that pucker (her consistent reaction to Brannon's baby talk)! At two months old she already know how to melt hearts!

We are all smitten in the Morse household with little Miss Haiven, or "Haivi Gravy" as Brannon calls her. Sometimes he even omits the "Haivi" and just asks, "Where's Gravy?" I'm hoping that's a nickname that doesn't stick! I never knew what kind of nickname Taj would have since his name is only one syllable and three letters long, but I think at the ripe age of three he has a nickname that will stick, "T." I can definitely live with that and I think he will be able to too. "T" was also my dad's nickname when he was growing up, so that's kind of cool. We didn't plan it. "T" was something everyone just started calling him. He also goes by "T Man," which he might think is pretty cool when he gets a little older because it almost sounds like a super hero name and what little boy doesn't wish he were a super hero? I know Brannon got his nickname "Gabby" when he was about three years old, so I thought it would be neat to document when Taj got his. It's not hard to wonder how Brannon got his name! I don't really have a unique nickname like Brannon or Taj. Brannon came from a town where pretty much everyone has a nickname. I never know who he is talking about when he is reliving old memories with his buddies. I hear names like Delburt, Pat, George, Bones, Newt, Bobba Louie, Hermcat, Turp, Bubba, Big Daddy, Construction, Slim, Doug, McGee, and a plethora of others. If you're looking for a unique nickname, head on down to Tropic, there are plenty to choose from!

Hurricane in Kaysville!

2011-12-01T15:39:00.001-08:00

I am standing in the pit where the roots of this tree used to be.

Last night when Brannon told me we were supposed to have some strong winds in Davis County today, I didn't think twice about it. I mean, I grew up in Monticello where it is pretty much always windy! It was never unusual to see a trampoline or two flipped upside down or some shingles missing or a fallen tree here or there, so I was literally freaked out by the howling winds that woke me at about 5 am this morning. Things kept hitting our house and our power kept going on and off. Then a couple hours later it did go off for good for most of the day. So far we have power again, but I'm not going to bank on it quite yet. I ventured out with the kids in the safety of our car when the winds died down to assess the damage. I couldn't believe what that 100 mph wind had done to quiet little Kaysville. They actually classified that speed of wind as Hurricane 2 status. Trees have been uprooted everywhere, people's roofs and shingles and siding are missing, trash and debris is everywhere, fences are down everywhere, power lines are down, business signs are gone, and there were a few fires. They also had to shut the freeway down because all the semi trucks were blowing over. There were semis backed up for miles on the freeway by our house. I have never seen anything like it! The only casualty at our house was a single shutter. We really got lucky. I really feel bad for those who have had a lot of damage done to their homes right before Christmas, as if Christmas isn't expensive already! The pictures I took were from my neighborhood in Kaysville.

Craft Day

2011-11-30T15:07:00.001-08:00

We usually do a craft day with all the girls when we go home for the holidays. This year my mom bought us kits, which made it super easy and convenient. It only took us about an hour to do the blocks. Crafts are fun, but not when they take all day long and you have whiny men and kids around the house:) The garland was something my mom saw on pinterest that she was just dying to try out. My sister and I put it together and it took a lot longer than we thought it would because of all the ornaments we had to tie on. What also made it take longer was that right as we were about to step back to admire our work, the entire thing fell down and ornaments went flying everywhere. We found some sturdy wire to get it hung back up, but it fell down a second time too! Lesson learned here: all those ornaments are heavier than they appear, so use something strong to string it up! Something else that made it even prettier was that we bought a pre-lit garland strand. So if you are looking for a fun/relatively cheap Christmas craft that looks amazing, this is it!

Thanksgiving and The Polar Express

2011-11-30T14:02:00.000-08:00

She really does love her big brother and he loves to give her kisses and rub his cheek and arm on her soft hair. If I have to set her in her crib for a minute, I don't mind letting Taj climb in with her because she never cries when he's there with her. He is already very protective of her. He doesn't like people he doesn't like holding her and he doesn't like it when I put headbands on her. I think that he thinks it is hurting her or bugging her because he can't stand to have anything on his head.
I love this picture. Haiven totally looks freaked out, as if she wants me to get her out of there quick! Taj just can't help climbing in the crib with her when she's in there. He makes sure to keep the mobile going for both their entertainment.
Haiven meeting her great grandma Martha for the first time. You can tell Haiven likes her too by the little smile on her face:)

Taj was pretty proud to have his very own silver bell and he preferred that we look at the bell instead of him!
This was the best picture we could get of Santa and his elves. All of the kids on our car were freaking out! I haven't heard that many little giggles and squeals all at once since I was in elementary school!

In Brannon's defense, I let Taj take some pictures and he chose Brannon as his subject:)
Nothing like a cold, Monticello sunset over the Blue Mountains!

Haiven meeting her great grandpa for the first time. You can tell that she was very intrigued with him:)

This year for Thanksgiving we went home to Monticello. Besides the holiday traffic, the trip there and back was pretty much perfect. We only had to stop once both ways to feed Haiven, otherwise she slept the entire way! When Taj was Haiven's age and we went home for Christmas, he cried the ENTIRE way, so we were geared up for a cry-fest, but we were pleasantly surprised by the snoring in the back seat. Thanksgiving dinner was great as always and I'm sure I ate too much for someone who needs to drop a lot of baby weight still! I think Brannon and I are going to have our own Biggest Loser competition to see who can drop the weight first. I think I might win since I have a gym pass and he has a giant sweet tooth.

Instead of doing Black Friday this year, we took a ride on the Polar Express in Durango, CO. My mom booked us tickets and while they were a bit pricey, I say they are totally worth it if you have kids. Taj absolutely loved it! His perma-smile face was glued to the window pretty much the entire ride. We drank hot cocoa, ate chocolate chip cookies, and listened to the Polar Express book on the way to the North Pole. Once we got to the North Pole, Santa came aboard and gave all of the kids on the train a silver bell from his sleigh. Taj wasn't so sure about Santa, but he loved the bell. Haiven slept like a rock, thank goodness, for the whole ride. I don't know how people traveled long distance in those old cars. They sway back and forth like a boat on water. I was just glad nobody got sick! It was such a fun night and literally a magical experience to see Taj's face light up and to experience the magic of childhood again through him. It actually brought tears to my eyes watching Taj as we pulled away from the train station. I was embarrassed about it until I looked over and saw my mom and sisters with watery eyes too, then we all laughed for getting so emotional over a train ride:)

It was good to just relax and spend time with family over a long weekend. Just so I remember, I love getting together with my family over the holidays because it always includes National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Elf, game night, hot cocoa, chips and Yolanda's salsa, mom's latest recipes, late nights telling stories, craft day, a bad mood or two, and lots of noise and laughs. My family knows how to spend quality time with each other and I've always been grateful for that and I know our relationships are stronger because of it. I know my mom will appreciate this since she is always so worried that if she doesn't have a lot of activities planned that we will all be bored and not want to come home. I told her that we all like to come home because it's home. There is no way it could be boring with all of us there together!

Chairs In the Road

2011-11-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Chairs do not belong on the road, especially on the freeway, especially in my lane! Yesterday I was rumbling down the road in lil' Black Magic when all of a sudden the car in front of me swerved out of the lane to reveal a man on the side of the road waving his arms frantically and a gigantic chair right in my lane. My natural reaction was to stomp on the brakes at 65 miles per hour, which of course set my locked tires to screeching and produced enormous amounts of black smoke. I'm pretty sure my eyes were as big as golf balls and I might have been doing the silent scream and I say silent because I was so scared I swear my heart stopped and I couldn't breathe! Time slowed down as I veered off the road to miss the chair and tried to avoid hitting the man or his stupid furniture truck. I will never forget the look on that man's face...he was actually laughing! Jerk. I think it was because of the stupid look on my face and perhaps the sight of smoke roiling out from underneath poor screeching Black Magic. He's just lucky I have moves like Starsky and Hutch and that I didn't turn him or his stupid chair into road kill!

Like Brother, Like Sister

2011-11-19T17:46:00.001-08:00

Haiven sleeps with her hands in the air just like Taj did when he was a baby, so funny!

Life as of Late

2011-11-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

Haiven's infamous pouty lip, soooo cute!

Life with two kids continues to get better with each week. I think we have finally found a schedule that works, although there are still several days where it seems I don't get anything done between the wants and needs of two kids. For example, it took me one whole week to balance the checkbook! I think Brannon was about to have a panic attack over it. I on the other hand am much less worried about keeping the house picked up, the checkbook balanced, the dishes washed, and putting laundry away these days--which is probably why Brannon comes home from work, surveys the damage from the day, and asks if I need more help around the house. I have learned that a lot of things can wait and that sometimes just surviving the day is enough. I think Brannon understands this when he gets left at home with the kids for the afternoon on Saturdays when I go grocery shopping:)

Taj continues to make great progress adjusting to baby sister, who he calls, "My baby." He loves to snuggle with her, rub her hair, kiss her, study her hands and feet and eyes, and help her with her binky. He is still not sure what mommy is doing when I nurse Haiven. He'll take off with my nursing pads and put them in his own shirt or try the nipple shield on his belly button. I hid the breast pump, so he hasn't tried that out again! I have a feeling this will be some great blackmail material when he gets older:) He is using more and more words to communicate and I think he is about to take off with speech, which we are really excited and thankful for! Both Brannon and I take special Taj time each day and I would honestly say that this is the best way to help an older sibling adjust to a new sibling for anyone about to experience the same change in their home!

Little Haiven continues to be such a good little baby. She does struggle with colic a little bit, but she is only fussy during the day and pretty much sleeps through the night now. She is so sweet and loves to be snuggled, especially by Taj. She is so alert when he comes around and it is so cute! She also responds well to soft piano or jazz music. It literally puts her to sleep, so it's actually become our cure for colic! I am so thankful for the rest that I am able to get! I do not function well on little sleep, in fact, I'm downright irritable and cantankerous, just ask Brannon!

For example the other night Brannon's old possessed cell phone's alarm went off in our room and woke me up only a half hour after I had put Haiven back to sleep (also in our room). In a sleep-deprived induced haze I clunked around our room looking for the source of the strange noise in a rage because I didn't want it to wake Haiven up. I searched for about five minutes and still couldn't find what was making such an awful noise, so I sat on the bed and put my head in my hands and decided that crying would be the best thing to do. Brannon stumbled in the room seconds later and knew exactly what the noise was: his old cell phone's alarm. He claims that while he was getting the phone out of the cupboards (above our bed), that I was swearing like a sailor at him. I do not remember that part as I was already halfway back asleep when the stupid phone was finally silenced! Want to know what happened two nights later? Yep, the same stupid phone that had been turned off two nights earlier went off again! This time I knew what it was and it took a lot of will power for me to not just throw it out in the road. Brannon later told me he had heard it go off again, but didn't dare come in the room because Medusa was on the loose!

Despite the chaos that is present in our home nearly every day, I am thankful for it all! I would rather have the mess and the noise than silence. I am so grateful for my family!

Baby Haiven

2011-11-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

My sister flew into town to meet our sweet baby Haiven and lucky for us her camera tagged along as well! We had big plans for cute props and cute outfits, but Haiven decided otherwise. It took us three different tries just to get the pictures that we did. Haiven does not like being nakey and she does not like to be woken up from her naps (like her momma--just ask Brannon:)). Taj for once liked having his picture taken and as you can tell, he is absolutely in love with is baby sister!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

This year Taj went trick-or-treating with Puff the Magic Dragon. Brannon pulled them in the wagon and Taj came back with a pretty good haul of candy--exactly what that kid needs! More sugar! I stayed behind with baby girl to hand out candy to about 20 trick-or-treaters...so yeah...we have a lot of candy leftover, which equals not good for someone who is trying to lose baby weight!

"Punk"

2011-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

This can only be the work of true pumpkin-carving geniuses!

Tonight we carved "punks" as Taj calls them. He was more than happy to help as long as he didn't have to touch any pumpkin guts. He bludgeoned the guts to death with that aluminum straw and also did his best to carve with it. He had a lot more fun than I thought he would. I actually think we all had more fun than we thought we would:)

Life As We Know It

2011-10-30T17:12:00.001-07:00

Enjoying the spoils of his wins at the carnival: a candy bracelet that he picked out himself with the tickets he won. He was very proud to show it to me too!

Haiven all bundled up at the Halloween carnival:)
A quick spin in the swing helped Taj to forget about the costume for long enough to enjoy an hour at the Halloween carnival.
We thought we picked out a good costume for Taj considering he can't stand to have anything tied on him, have weird textures or pressures from his clothing, or to have anything on his head or face. We were wrong! It took three people to get Taj in this costume and the meltdown was epic! One of the best we've ever witnessed!

I love this picture of Taj. It melts my heart every time I look at it and reminds me of the sweet little boy he really is even when he is not at his best:)

We are slowly settling into a routine around the Morse house and life is starting to look sunny once again. The first two weeks after having a baby are always hard for me. It definitely hasn't been easy adjusting to a newborn's schedule and figuring in a toddler's schedule as well. Taj has generally been doing pretty well with having Haiven around. He is very gentle with her and he loves to help me swaddle her, get her dressed, help her with her binky, and with getting me things. The tough part has been figuring out how to give Taj the attention he needs every day while taking care of a newborn. Our latest challenge has been with Taj taking off his diaper every time he goes peepee or poopoo. Naturally, the products of his diaper end up in and on various things/places in our house. I have been busy shooting our water bill through the roof with our washing machine and keeping companies like Clorox and Lysol in business for the past week. Part of me believes he is surely ready for potty training and part of me thinks he is doing it to get attention. I've tried duct taping his diaper on, but somehow he still gets his diaper off. Never underestimate what a toddler can do, especially a little boy! The tentative game plan for now is to slowly introduce the wonderful concept of going peepee and poopoo in the potty. I know I've already asked for potty training advice of Facebook, but if any of you bloggers have some good advice or resources that would help, please let me know! I'm feeling a little more than slightly overwhelmed with the idea of potty training and taking care of a newborn right now, but life cannot go on as it has been at our house any longer, otherwise I'm afraid our house will smell like a pet shop! As challenging as motherhood/parenthood can be, I'm still thankful at the end of each day for the wonderful blessing of children. Taj and Haiven are my life and I think I have a pretty sweet life!

Shabby Apple Blog Post

2011-10-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! I can use some positive vibes right now! I recently did a guest post for Shabby Apple's blog on the inspiration behind my line. Here is the link if you would like to check it out! http://blog.shabbyapple.com/

p.s. The only dress in the 65 collection that is not my design is Block Party. That is the fabulous creation of the Shabby Apple team:)

Vintage-Inspired 65 Launch

2011-10-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

My line has officially launched with Shabby Apple! Here is the link http://www.shabbyapple.com/c-145-65.aspx so that you can see the entire collection!

My Vintage Shabby Apple Line Debut

2011-10-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Shabby Apple Launches Vintage Clothing Line

The first five dresses modeled on this ABC4 news segment are from my line.

I am so excited to announce the launch of my 1960s inspired vintage dress line with Shabby Apple! This has been a long time coming for me and it definitely has not been easy! There has been much stress, several sleepless nights, and many tears shed, BUT it has all been worth it. I have learned so much about the fashion industry and what it takes to turn simple sketches into an actual line of dresses. I have learned that it takes a lot of heart, hope, faith, prayers, and guts to see a dream through to the end. My line officially launches on the Shabby Apple website www.shabbyapple.com on October 21st, so if you like 1960s fashion, take a minute and check out what I've been working on the past year!

Comparison

2011-10-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Taj: Two days old.
Haiven: Two days old.

They are definitely brother and sister!

Haiven Mary Morse

2011-10-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

Haiven Mary Morse made her appearance on Monday this week, the 10th of October. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 20 1/2 in. long. She weighed less than Taj did, but was a full inch longer than Taj was at his birth. I really hope she gets her daddy's long legs! She has a head full of long dark hair too, which I am loving:)

This labor could not have gone better compared to Taj's. I arrived at the hospital at 7:15 a.m. to check in and by 8:30 a.m. I had the IV going, the Pitocin started, and my water broke by the doctor. Things progressed pretty quickly, but I wanted to hold out on the epidural until I was at least dilated to a 5, since last time I had the epidural at a 2 and it took 12 hours to become complete. This time around I dilated to a 6 in about 4 hours and then I very much wanted an epidural. I am such a baby! Kudos to women who go without the epidural because there is no freaking way I could ever do it willingly! My whole body literally shook, I mean teeth chattering with every contraction. They were really intense while they were putting in the epidural and I held on to my mom and I think I nearly ripped the belt loops off her pants. Sorry mom! Brannon wasn't present for the epidural or the IV, so he showed up in time to basically watch the baby come, which was great because we didn't need him passing out again:) I had the epidural for one hour before I felt A LOT of pressure in the nether regions. By 1:33 p.m. we were meeting our sweet baby girl. I pushed about 20 minutes this time versus 2 hours last time. It was wonderful to get it over with so quickly! Another HUGE plus was that I didn't have any tears or require an episiotomy. So my labor this time around was about 5-6 hours, with Taj it was 14 hours, obviously a tremendous improvement! I stayed one night in the hospital and since all was well with both me and Haiven, we got to go home the next day. So far she has been a really great baby. She basically eats and sleeps all day and all night as well. I usually only have to get up twice in the night to feed her and then she goes right back to sleep. Another great thing about our sweet baby girl is that she is a champ at breastfeeding. I never really got to do that with Taj, so I'm glad that I get to experience that with her, although I never knew it would hurt so badly! For some reason every time she first latches on and the pain is really intense, the words "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!" go through my mind. At this point I have scabs and am bleeding, so you can imagine what it feels like to reopen a wound about every two hours every day. My mom says it will get better soon and I'm really hoping that proves true!

Taj is also loving his new baby sister. He always points to her says, "Awww, my baby!" He loves to try and help by giving his sister her pacifier, or giving her a push in the swing, or by sharing his blanket and stuffed animal of the day with her. He loves to pet and tickle her head, which is his idea of being "soft." Really though, we are all very surprised with how much interest he has in her. We thought he would think she was neat and then go on back to whatever it was he was doing. When he wakes up in the morning and from his naps, the first thing he says is "My baby" and he takes off running to find her. I know he will be such a good big brother to her. I think the biggest challenge with this baby is going to be balancing my time between the baby and Taj. I am just going to have to make mommy and Taji time every day.

I am so blessed to have such good family and a great husband. My mom has stayed the week with us to help me get back on my feet. She has been an enormous help with Taj and with keeping the house put together and our stomachs full. Taj will certainly not be the only one sad to see her go back home, but I know my dad and youngest brother are dying to have her back as they've been eating freezer burnt chicken and whatever else my dad could manage to find in the cupboards. I think they even attempted to have the house cleaned up for when she returns, but as my dad pulled a groin muscle vacuuming (who knew that was possible?!), who knows how far they were able to get:) It's been great to have my mom here and I know the next week or two may be a little rough until we find a new routine. Brannon has been a great help as well. He spends every evening one on one with Taj so that Taj doesn't feel as though we don't pay him enough attention. He also takes care of Taj's bedtime and bathtime routine, which is a big relief. I'm so thankful I don't have to raise two kids on my own and I'm so thankful I have such a wonderful, helpful, and patient husband!

Happy 3rd Birthday Taj!

2011-10-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

Taj turned the big 0-3 this week and just in time too! Still no baby yet, so we were able to have a small family party and celebrate with too many presents and overindulgence in Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes. Taj will not eat cake, but he will at least hold a cupcake and lick the frosting off the top, so we thought cupcakes were the way to go. Taj was VERY spoiled this year by his family. I was so excited to give him a bike for his birthday, but he couldn't have cared less about it as he favored the Hot Wheels Big Wheel from his Auntie Terri and the remote control car and Radio Flyer wagon from my parents. So back in the shed the bike will go until we see some warm weather again. I can't believe my little boy is 3 now! It seems as though I just had him! Some good news about Taj is that he is talking more and more now and we are seeing A LOT more of his personality that his language barrier has kept hidden away. All I know is that I think the "Terrible Twos" were just a precursor to the "Terrifically Terrible Threes." I know I just have to tell myself to enjoy this phase of life because it will soon be over. We are thankful for our little Taj man though and how unboring our life is every day because of him. I know he is going to be a great big brother:)

After the big celebration I did some major mall walking to try to induce labor, but little Haiven is content where she's at. So once more I have the house cleaned top to bottom (thanks to the help of my mom and Brannon), the laundry done, and the cupboards and fridge stocked and ready to go. Tomorrow we are meeting our baby girl for sure and life is about to get a little or most likely a lot chaotic!

1st Day of Preschool

2011-10-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. He is a little apprehensive about what I am doing making him stand against a wall and why we are here in the first place. As you can see he is clutching his little truck pretty hard:)

Today was Taj's first day of preschool. I am actually posting this with my free time while he is at school. It's such a strange feeling to be at home alone without Taj running all over the place. It's so quiet....not sure yet how I feel about that yet. I think I may come to find that I will like having a couple hours of breathing time. I am really anxious to see how Taj does today. He seemed pretty excited to go to school and as soon as I walked him through the door to his classroom, he didn't even look back for me. He really is my big boy now!

Sunday

2011-10-02T21:27:00.001-07:00

Today we celebrated Grandpa and Grandma Morse's birthdays. Grandpa is going to be the big 8-0 and Grandma the big 8-3. They both have October birthdays, so usually the family gets together to celebrate. I've been thankful that I've had time to get to know them and claim them as my own grandparents. They have certainly made me feel as one of their own and I've learned many priceless life lessons from them. Brannon has wonderful family on both sides. I really lucked out in in-laws! ;)

So still no baby yet, but I'm not freaking out as much as I was about two days ago. I've decided what my problem is: I am trying to have absolutely every little thing done before the baby comes, almost as if the world is going to stop when she is born. I set myself up to be overwhelmed, so I've been reminding myself every hour of every day that life will go on, that I won't be totally incapacitated when the baby comes, that I will still be able to go out and run errands and go to the gym and go to the park, etc. I guess I was just trying to be so prepared that I wouldn't really have to do anything but survive for the first two weeks. Lucky for me my mom is able to come and stay for a week and Brannon will take some work off after that, so I should survive just fine!

p.s. Anyone have an natural ways to induce labor that worked for them? This is just me getting desperate...have mercy....the picture above clearly conveys my suffering!

38 Weeks

2011-09-30T19:50:00.001-07:00

Pregnancy always shows in my face and "hind quarters" as Brannon calls it. I told Brannon not to get my hind quarters in the picture if possible, but there was no helping the puffy face or double chin. I will be very excited to start tackling this baby weight soon!

All my wishing and hoping for an earlier birth this time around really hasn't paid off yet. I have been walking like crazy among other "natural" things to try to induce labor, BUT to no avail. I have about one week to go before I am induced, so I guess there is still hope that she may come a little earlier. I should probably do the smart thing and just enjoy what time I have left of just having one child. I should probably also take advantage of all the sleep I am getting right now because if this baby is anything like Taj was, I will be getting about two hours of sleep every night. I am having some mixed feelings right now. Part of me just wants to have her as soon as possible and the other part wants her to stay in there awhile longer because I know life is about to change drastically for us again. I almost feel like I'm not ready, like my house isn't clean enough, like I have too many loose ends to tie up before she comes, like the laundry can never stay done long enough, like I can never stock up enough groceries, etc. I also have Taj's birthday next week to get through, so I'm kind of hoping that we can get through that before the baby comes too! I guess it's good that I can't stay perfectly prepared before she comes. I'm going to have to have something to still do when she comes besides being an expert diaper changer and an around-the-clock source of food. I guess having all these little things, mundane things, to do around the house will help me stay a part of the real world. I've been trying to prepare myself mentally this time around. I was totally unprepared with Taj and suffered with Postpartum Depression for a year and a half afterwards. It was unlike anything I've ever had to go through before and I DO NOT want to go through that again or put my little family through that again. Heaven forbid the baby blues don't go away this time too, at least I will be able to recognize it and know what to do to treat it. I'm pretty darn confident that this time around will be a lot better since I know a lot of what to expect, so as hard as it seems right now, I'm sure with some time I will adjust and wonder what all that worrying was about!

On a lighter note: I have some very exciting news that I am hoping to announce in the next two weeks and it has something to do with Shabby Apple:)

(Sigh....)

2011-09-27T21:32:00.000-07:00

Here he is helping me make the frosting for the sheet cake I made today. He is having a taste of powdered sugar. He liked the taste, just not the mess on his pants and sticky fingers:)

Does anyone else catch themselves saying to their kids:

*Don't touch that! Gross! (or) Hot! (or) Sharp!

*Don't take your diaper off! Come find mama when you need your diaper changed, look at this mess!

*Don't drink your bath water! I mean it, one more sip and you are getting out! Okay that's it, you're getting out!

*Taj we don't pee in the bathwater, we go peepee in the potty...

*Stay out of that drawer, no seriously, I mean it!

*Don't rip the comforter and all the pillows off the mommy and daddy's bed and on the floor! Can't you waller the pillows ON the bed?

*Hey, mommy's couch pillows are not for riding down the stairs! Okay, mommy's just going to have to hide them!

*Taj close the door please. Taj PLEASE close the door. Taj close the door you are letting in all the flies! (After ten flies zoom in the kitchen, he shuts the door) Thank you!

*Taj close the fridge now please. Taj you need to shut the fridge now please. Taj, no you cannot drink soy sauce or lemon juice and trust me you won't like mustard! Okay take the apple and shut the fridge! (By this time moisture has condensed on everything because the door was open for so long)

*Taj take your fingers out of your nose! (As he looks at me with an "as if" stare and fingers up both nostrils)

Geeze, there sure are a lot of explanation points! For those of you who are worried, I'm not yelling all these things, at least not MOST of the time. I've learned lately that he is very sensitive to tone of voice, so I try not to raise my voice to him because the look he gets on his face if someone raises their voice to him would break your heart. Obviously I'm not perfect and I've had my heart broken (well deserved) several times by that look. Little boys are NOT easy for a girly girl like me to raise, but his good moments make me forget all the fiascoes of the day. His monkey hugs and big, puckered-up kisses melt my heart every time and at the end of every single day I'm so thankful Taj is mine.

Toddler Story of the Day

2011-09-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

What's better than spending the afternoon on the phone with the phone company trying to figure out how to lower your monthly bill, listening to numerous annoying and completely time-wasting sales pitches, and being bombarded by crappy elevator music? I will tell you. It's having your two year old boy bust into the kitchen after playing outside proudly giving me his pee-soaked diaper that also happens to have a poopoo in it WHILE you are still on the phone with the phone company. Because I was waiting on a confirmation number, I hurriedly tossed the diaper aside to be dealt with at a later time, which turned out to be sooner than later. Taj had taken off his diaper outside in the yard in front of our elderly neighbor who isn't too keen on kids anyway, especially Taj since he tries to feed her dogs rocks. After he took his diaper off, he just pulled his pants back up like he was the world's greatest hero. I'm assuming the added glee came from the sensation of having no diaper on under his pants, which of course I couldn't allow since obviously he is not potty trained. So immediately after I hung up with the phone company, I further inspected Taj's clothing and found the said poopoo caked on the backside of his shirt and the inside of his pants. Apparently the diaper transaction didn't fare too well on his clothes. Needless to say, I spent the next part of my afternoon stripping the vile clothing off my angel baby and washing that skinny little bum of his until it was nice and white again.

Potty incidents gone bad have always been a big fear of mine as a parent. I didn't think I would ever be able to cope with these kinds of incidents before I had Taj, but thank goodness mother nature programmed mothers with a grooming gene fostered by love for their children so that people like me can overcome their fear of poop, pee, boogers, and puke and be able to clean up after their young. I always wondered how my mom did it, but now I know. It doesn't seem AS gross when it's your own kid. It's still gross, but somehow tolerable:)

Soon to Be Big Brother

2011-09-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

Taj becomes more of a boy every day it seems. Whenever Taj comes in the house from playing in the sandbox, I find a mini-sandbox in his hair, down his diaper, in his shoes and caked on his clothes. Not that I really care (except on cleaning day)...I'm just glad that he actually likes playing in the sandbox. He wasn't too interested for awhile, but I'm sure most parents know how that goes. You buy your child something new to play with and either they could care less about it and would rather play with an empty box or stick OR they play with it for about 15 min. and never look back. So I'm happy that my sandbox purchase wasn't totally in vain!

I've been trying to tell Taj for months now about the baby sister inside my belly, but the most I've been able to do is convince him that a belly button is called a "baby." I didn't realize he thought I was pointing to my belly button when I would point to my stomach and say "baby." I only realized this because now he points to his own belly button and says, "baby." So I'm afraid having a new baby around that doesn't go home after a few hours will be quite a shock for Taj. We are already planning daddy and Taj dates and mommy and Taj dates to make sure Taj still gets the attention he needs. I'm actually starting to look forward to having two kids around the house instead of just one. Taj needs a playmate around:)

Other news: I attended Taj's IEP meeting last Friday and it was decided by myself and other school officials that Taj will attend the "Three year old preschool" twice a week. We felt this was the best placement for him because only half of the students in this class have IEPs, so he will have a good mix of kids to learn from. His first day of school is October 3rd and I'm really excited for him to get started. I'm sure it will be a very rough transition for him (me too) as he will probably think I am dropping him off at daycare, but he will have to get used to it because he will go for the entire school year! I really have mixed emotions about sending him to preschool so early, but I know it is for the best. I know that I will miss him, but this is what he needs and I am willing to do whatever it takes to ensure he gets a good start in life. I have great confidence in the professionals who will be working with him. They've set some great social, speech, and cognitive goals for him so I hope to see some great progress soon!

Remember 9/11

2011-09-11T15:27:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago today for some reason (I can't remember why) I had to miss first period of school. I was freshly 16 years old and I was just getting out of the shower when my mom yelled for me to come into her room. The TV was on and I saw one of the twin towers smoking and then both my mom and I watched in horror as another plane crashed into the second tower. We stopped what we were doing and sat on her bed. I couldn't believe it was actually happening. It didn't seem real. Things like that didn't happen in America. America was safe, untouchable, or so I thought. I remember my mom saying "We're under attack" as we watched the second plane hit. I remember thinking, "No way, it's just some bizarre accident. No one would deliberately crash into office towers to kill people." That day when I went to school every television was on in every classroom and we watched America grief-stricken, terrified, broken, and confused try to figure out what could have provoked such an attack. We watched heroes being lost and being born. We watched how resilient America could be while going through hell on earth. That day was the day I learned what terrorism really means. It means acting in cowardice and hate and ignorance. It means the shedding of innocent blood. I was never afraid to live in American until that day. There is nothing scarier than a group of people who profess to do such violent acts in the name of God because they think they are doing this for God, then what is there to stop them if they do not fear death or consequence because they believe they will live in paradise for their acts? It's such a scary thought, BUT Americans are strong and Americans fight for their people. I know that I can rest easier knowing that our troops are out there eliminating and protecting us from terrorist groups. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that soldiers and their families make so that I can feel safe and live freely. I am so grateful that I have my loved ones around me and my heart aches for those who lost their loved ones on this day ten years ago. I will never forget 9/11, the sacrifices that were made that day and still continue to be made, and the people who lost their lives that day. I am proud to be named an American.

Haiven's Nursery

2011-09-11T14:39:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of fun putting Haiven's room together. I went with owls/birds for a theme and kind of ran with it. I found the crib bedding and window valance online with BabysRus. I got the rug and wall vinyl from Target which happened to match perfectly with the bedding and my mom thought I just had to have the matching lamp, so we've got that too:) I was so glad we didn't have to buy a new crib or changing table or glider. This room was surprisingly inexpensive to do too. I made the nightstand in high school, had a friend make the decorative wall shelf, bought the dresser off KSL and painted it, bought the picture frames from DI and painted them, and made name and temple blocks. It was a lot of fun to have so many projects to do, but I am SO glad they are done for now. I don't want to sand or paint another piece of wood for awhile!

Taj's Bedroom Makeover

2011-09-11T14:30:00.001-07:00

Back in July when my nesting energy was running rampant, I decided to revamp Taj's room in addition to getting Haiven's room ready. I wanted it to be more kid-friendly and tailored to Taj's personality. So far he has loved seeing all the cars and trucks on his wall. Bringing the toy box upstairs to his room was also a great idea for those days when he won't take a nap, but when I make him stay in his room for quite time. All that I really did for Taj's room was add the vinyl cars/trucks/trains on the wall, paint a shelf and chair, and make name and temple blocks. It was super cheap to do and his room is so much more fun now. I'm happy with how it turned out and that Taj actually likes to spend time in there now:)

PDD-NOS

2011-09-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

I had no idea this term existed until today. For the past year we have been working with Taj on his speech and after seeing very minimal results, decided to have him further evaluated for other causes behind his speech delay. After several evaluations from different occupational therapists, it was determined that Taj also has a sensory disorder. Sensory disorders vary widely and a person may only have one type or a person may have several types of sensory disorders.

Every kid has their quirks, especially two year old kids, so instead of feeling anxiety over Taj's peculiarities, we felt relieved to finally know a reason why he does the things he does. For instance why just getting him to eat is a daily battle, why he completely overreacts to having his hair, fingernails, and toenails cut, why the blankets, pillows, stuffed animals have to be a certain way and texture in order for him to go to sleep, why he can't wear shirts with hoods or socks with large seams, etc. Since being evaluated by the occupational therapist we have been doing therapy with him on our own at home with things like brushing, joint compression, swinging, rough housing, and several other activities to help Taj's nerves get the stimulation they need. If we are religious about it, Taj's eating habits do seem to improve, which is great! I can't tell you how stressful it is to have a child that a lot of the time refuses to eat anything all day long, especially a skinny child. He does get about four large sippy cups of whole milk with a supplement in it, so at least he is still getting some calories every day. I'm hoping his eating improves as he gets older and as he learns to deal with different textures.

Because Taj will be turning three soon, he was evaluated by the Davis County School District to see if he qualifies for early intervention in the district. Several questionnaires, observations, and appointments with speech therapists, occupational therapists, and a child psychologist later, it was determined that Taj is on the Autism spectrum. He is on the Autism spectrum because of his speech delay, sensory issues, and a slight cognitive delay. He does not however have Autism or Aspergers (sorry if spelling is wrong). Taj has PDD-NOS, which stands for: Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Basically, Taj has enough characteristics of Autism and equally enough high functioning strengths that he can't be fully classified as one way or the other. The psychologist told me it was a "catch all" phrase for children like Taj who are on the Autism spectrum but who don't actually have Autism. The best course of intervention for this is early intervention. Taj has an IEP meeting next week where it will be determined which preschool he qualifies for. I was told that he will most likely be put in a Functional Skills class where he will learn self help skills first and then as he progresses, move on to other things. I am excited about this because there will be more teachers than students in the classroom, which means Taj should get a lot of one on one help and direction. Because we are getting Taj the help he needs early on, he will most likely be able to carry on a normal, high functioning life. We of course are going to do everything on our end to help Taj get to where he needs to be cognitively and with his speech. I am very excited for him to start preschool and I'm sure that we are going to see some great results.

As a parent, sometimes there are a lot of open-ended questions when it comes to your child's well-being. As a mother, something just didn't feel quite right about Taj's speech and behavior and I'm glad that I took the initiative to look into it because the earlier Taj starts treatment, the better. Waiting even a year or two may have delayed him even further. We love Taj more than life itself, quirks and all, and are committed to giving him the best start possible! I'm grateful school districts offer the help they do for families like ours.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

This is how cellphones are lost: Letting your two year old pack the diaper bag/purse with all the "essentials". Every time I try to grab something out, five other things fall out on the ground. Let's just say: lesson learned!
Cute little piggy's asleep in their feed dish. This one is for you Marci the Pig Lover!
He really was having fun, just a little apprehensive as was I on account of the very rickety bench we were sitting on. He held onto my leg most of the time.

I hope most everyone was able to enjoy their Labor Day Weekend like we were. My family made the trek "up north" to visit for the weekend. Really, nothing makes a holiday a holiday like family and I am thankful I was able to spend this one with mine. After my family headed back south today, we decided to take Taj to Wheeler Farms for the afternoon. If anyone is looking for a cheap family activity Wheeler Farms is where it's at. We looked at all the farm animals which included horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. Of all the animals, I think Taj like the other people's dogs best, it figures! We also took a hayride around the farm, minus the hay thank goodness! We spent a little over an hour there before I began to go into meltdown mode from the humidity and then we retreated to Cafe Rio. All was well until I figured out later in the day that I didn't bring my cell phone home with me from Wheeler Farms. Right now I am experiencing shock and denial. How could this have happened?! What will I do for one WHOLE day without my cell phone?! I really didn't know I was this dependent on my cell phone, but really it's my lifeline to the world and I feel so bare and vulnerable without it. The good news is, somebody turned it in to the lost and found, so my phone and I will hopefully be reunited by tomorrow night! Other than the cellphone incident, it was a perfect day spent with my little family.

34 Weeks

2011-09-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

I am officially 34 weeks this coming Saturday and boy am I feeling it! The baby has definitely "dropped" and it wouldn't break my heart if she came in about three more weeks. I'm hoping she doesn't like it in there as much as Taj did:) I know that most everybody has their "nesting" list they want to cross off before the baby comes, so here is what mine looks like:

*Have carpets cleaned

*Clean vents, baseboards, cupboards, doors

*Clean underneath the stove and fridge

*De-clutter closets

*Touch-up paint on walls, doors, and baseboards

*Finish last minute projects for Taj and baby's room

*Cut Taj and Brannon's hair

*Get my own hair done!

*Get Whooping Cough Vaccination (My doctor recommended we get the DTP vaccination so we are up-to-date on our vaccinations)

I feel as if we can get the house deep cleaned and groomed as well as ourselves before the baby comes, then I won't feel as bad about it being a chaos zone around here for the first couple of months after the baby arrives!

Family Outing

2011-09-01T12:19:00.001-07:00

Check out the sweet gigantic mustard stain on my shirt. I could blame it on just having a belly that sticks out too far and is always in the way, but the truth is that I'm just a lot more clumsy when I'm pregnant! Oh well, at least it wasn't my shirt. Brannon will have to deal with it when I give it back to him:)

Last weekend Brannon planned a family four-wheeling outing. I was 33 weeks last week and more than slightly nervous about bouncing around on a fourwheeler for several hours. Thank goodness baby Haiven stayed put for the ride. I had to be very bossy and tell Brannon not have us bouncing all over the place. I started bossing him after 10 seconds of being on the ride and he was like, "You're already telling me how to drive!?" Heck yes! I told him it wasn't a joke that the ride could put me into labor and we all very well know that Brannon would be pretty much incapacitated if I went into labor on the mountain seeing as he passes out when he sees blood. I was just glad that we had cell service the entire time. Might I recommend NOT going for a long fourwheeler ride when you are what Brannon's likes to call "Very Pregnant." It was VERY hot outside and for some reason one of the side panels my leg was resting on heated up so hot that I was afraid it would blister my leg, so I had to hold my leg out to the side for the entire ride, so not fun! We stopped and had a picnic along the way, but little did we know we had picked a spot with a bees nest. We had to stay there though because it was the only place with any shade. Brannon and Taj got some good entertainment eating their lunch and watching me yelp and scream and wave my arms every time a bee got near me. I've very surprised none of us got stung and also very thankful! All that's important is that at least Brannon and Taj had a great time and I didn't give birth on the mountain!

Shadow

2011-08-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

Taj is Brannon's shadow every day that Brannon gets home from work. As soon as he hears his daddy coming through the door, Taj is glued to Brannon's hip for the rest of the night. Brannon just sat down on the porch to take a rest and of course Taj plopped right down beside him. I think it's so cute how much he idolizes his dad. I had always hoped Taj would. Having a child watch and imitate your every move definitely makes you want to be a better person. I always tell people that I have learned things about myself, good and bad, that I never would have otherwise learned without kids. It truly is a refiner's fire being a parent and I'm grateful that we are blessed to be able to be parents to a wild little boy and a hopefully sweet baby girl:)

Little School Chair

2011-08-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Before
After

My mom gave me this little old school chair for Taj and I decided to give it a little makeover. I think it turned out really cute and Taj loves having it in his room.

This Boy has My Heart

2011-08-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

He loves wearing his harness around the house, so NO I don't make him wear it, he insists on it. I think he loves it because it's a puppy dog harness.
Lately every time he gets an "owie" he comes running to me and holds out whatever hurts and wants me to kiss it. Sometimes I have to force myself to kiss his grubby little fingers or elbow or knee because as soon as I kiss it and say "all better" and he runs off playing again, totally forgetting that he got hurt in the first place.

I refinished a chair outside in the hot sun the other day and when I brought out a huge glass of ice water to keep from dying of thirst and heat, I think I got two drinks of it before Taj and his sandy little shovel found its way into it. He liked digging for the ice cubes:)

Taj is growing up on me. He is going to be 3 in less than two months and I can tell. He is starting to get a lot more independent, which is good and bad, but more good I would say. He can now open the fridge and get himself a drink or a snack. However he has to still be supervised as sometimes he chooses Soy Sauce, Half n' Half, gourmet olives, or eggs. He can also open the freezer, which is not good because he leaves it open once he gets it open. Plus, he knows that's where we keep the popsicles and as of today we've almost gone through an entire box of Otter Pops in less than two weeks.

He usually wakes me up in the morning by coming in my room, turning off the humidifier, and then he hands me my glasses because he knows mommy goes nowhere without her glasses. Some mornings he climbs in bed with me and snuggles for awhile, which I love because he hardly ever slows down to just be held.

He loves helping with laundry, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, and mopping. He's already broken one of my mops and nearly bleached out a pile of dark clothes I had sitting by the washer by throwing them in with the whites. He still loves to be outside riding his bike, playing in the sandbox, riding his Buzz Lightyear fourwheeler, playing at the park, and pushing his trucks. He absolutely loves anything with wheels still. He has about four or five trucks that he rotates through throughout the day. At night he usually chooses a toy from his toy box to go to sleep with along with his stick horse and giant stuffed animal caterpillar. He also has to have his blanket spread out in a certain way or else he freaks out and won't go to sleep.

He is still a huge movie buff, which is nice on cleaning day;)

He just got evaluated last week by the Davis School District to determine whether or not he qualifies for special needs preschool. He is also going to be evaluated by the district occupational therapist and psychologist just to make sure all our bases are covered. I'm pretty certain that he qualifies for preschool as he still has a pretty significant speech delay and sensory issues. We have an IEP next month to determine if and what type of preschool he qualifies for. I am very optimistic about him going to preschool and getting the extra help he needs. I'm sure that we will see a significant improvement in his speech once he begins preschool. We still brush him two or three times a day, which continues to help him eat better. As of today he will still eat about two meals a day, which is HUGE for us as he used to eat not even one meal a day on average. I'm sure we are going to see big improvement from here on out!

Taj is so full of personality and energy and there is not one day that is not made interesting because of him. I wouldn't have it any other way. We are so thankful for our Taji boy!

Maternity Photoshoot

2011-08-10T14:00:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken when I was about six months pregnant by my younger aspiring photographer sister Marci. She did an awesome job! She's actually going to ASU right now to get her degree in photography. If you want creative, vintage-style photos, she is your girl:) Thanks Marci!

Cousin Livy

2011-08-08T18:01:00.001-07:00

Taj and his cousin Alivia are pretty much inseparable every time they get a chance to be together. She calls him "Taji" and he talks her leg off in whatever language it is that he is currently speaking. I thought it would be fun for them to do bath time together and I was right!

Train Weekend

2011-08-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

If there is a toy machine that wants money to operate it, Taj will find it. Unfortunately for Taj, I almost never have change, so I'm always glad that he's content with just pretending that he's actually going for a ride.

We were the "caboose" on this mini train. Notice the seat is only like three inches wide? Talk about fanny seat sandwich! Most parents had to waddle away groaning after this ride. I of course being 40 pounds over my normal weight had no problem with this seat;)
Brannon grabbing Taj out of the out of bounds area. Taj was so excited to get on a train he ran around the fence and hopped on one of the mini trains sitting there. That boy is super quick!

On the first Saturday of the month, there is a man in Farmington, UT who operates his mini trains for little kids and their parents to ride on. Apparently, it is a family hobby and the man builds most of the trains himself, including the laying down of all the track. That, I'm sure is a time consuming and expensive hobby! Brannon told me after we'd ridden the trains that he would like to do the same thing as a hobby someday. I told him to count me out, but more power to him:) Obviously a lot of work goes into what this man does, but you should have seen the smiles on all the kids faces and the huge line of people waiting to ride these trains. The kids are probably why this man works so hard to do what he does with these trains. I'm sure you have to be a kid at heart to choose this as a hobby! Taj and Brannon enjoyed it a lot more than I did, but I'm sure that's just because I am pregnant and hot all the time:)

Primary Pizza Party

2011-08-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Taj taking advantage of the Bingo treats. I had to hide the bowl from him! He's got a major sweet tooth just like his dad:)

I teach the CTR 5 primary class in my ward, which includes 5 & 6 year olds. To help them be "reverent" in class and sharing time, I let them earn stars or reverent bears. Once they earn so many, they get to choose a prize. This time around, they wanted to earn a pizza party. Pizza party? No big deal right? These guys are WAY more mature than Sunbeams right? I had no idea what I was getting myself in to! In the space of one hour, one boy managed to spend 20 minutes in my bathroom going poo and using an entire roll of toilet paper, which clogged our toilet (thank goodness he didn't try to flush it, but cleaning it up was absolutely disgusting!), I had not one, but TWO rootbeer floats spilled all over my feet and on one of my only pairs of NICE sandals, and Taj's sandbox sand ended up all over the yard! Thank goodness my teaching partner was there to help me because I couldn't wait for that ONE hour to be over with! As you can see from the picture, I think at least they were having a good time, which is what really matters anyway right? I think this may be the last pizza party we do in awhile!

Dennis The Menace

2011-07-31T18:43:00.001-07:00

Taj checking to see if the lock still works after the middle of the door knob was hollowed out.

Today I thought we were actually going to be on time for church. I got up a little earlier, showered, did my hair, and even had Sunday dinner in the crockpot a half hour before church started. Taj however had other plans. Lately he has been locking himself in the bathrooms or our bedroom. He knows how to unlock the doors and we can get him to come out when we tell him we're leaving to go "bye bye." Today was different though. I was coming down the hall towards our room right as Taj bolted out of our room and slammed the door on his way out. I knew what he did before I got to our door. This time he locked our door with nobody inside our room. The other bad part was that my church clothes were locked inside, so we had to deal with the locked door if I wanted to go to church. No key, butter knife, paper clip, or hanger would loosen that stupid lock, so Brannon broke out the power drill and drilled the middle right out of the door knob. About three piles of metal shavings and 20 minutes later, we finally got into the room. We were only 30 minutes late to church, which my primary kids notified me of as soon as I walked in the room:) I just have to remind myself that someday these kind of things will be funny and I'd rather have a little excitement every day than the same old dull routine!

The Zoo is Hot!

2011-07-31T18:24:00.001-07:00

Brannon and Taj with Wyatt (his brother) and Taj's cousin Alivia (who Taj absolutely loves by the way! He can't stop hugging her when she's around:))

This is the only picture we got of Taj with an animal and it was the first one we saw. I almost crossed the fence to share some shade with the camel!
Great minds think alike. Child harnesses are the best and Taj actually didn't mind his this time.

Every time Brannon and I take Taj to the zoo, we always leave saying, "I'd be just fine if I never went there again!" I have to admit I didn't have the best attitude from the beginning. My reasons: a) It was 95 degrees outside. b) It smells like ish even worse when it's hot at the zoo, especially the monkeys. c) I'm 30 weeks pregnant. d) I had to wait in line for half an hour just to get a drink. I thought I would die before it was my turn to order. e) Did I mention it was freakin hot?! We didn't even get to see very many animals while we were there, but we did manage to let the kids ride the carousel once. I think that I was crankier than the kids were. I don't tolerate heat well when I'm not pregnant, so when I am pregnant AND hot, I'm pretty much a pregnazilla. If there is a next time at the zoo in the near future, it will be either in the fall or the early spring. I think going to the zoo is a personal sacrifice because I think most parents don't enjoy it, but their kids do so that's why they go. Taj actually liked it this time, so I'm sure we'll be making more miserably hot trips to the zoo. Only watching him enjoy the animals made our trip worth it!

The Week in Monticello in Pictures

2011-07-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

There are only four of these left in the world and one of them belongs to little ol' Monticello, UT. I used to play on this tractor when I was a little girl and it sat at the town park. On hot days my best friend and I would climb between the spokes on the wheel and rest in the shade of the giant wheel. We like to pretend we were driving it. I never thought this old tractor would move on its own again, but I was wrong!
The other coolest part of the parade. Isn't this miniature pony adorable?!
Taj bummed snow cone off of his Uncle Brian and....
His uncle Easton. Only Taj could get away with that. Apparently 2 year olds don't have cooties...if they only knew!

Enjoying the first spoils of the parade.
Besides not wanting to leave the four wheeler, Taj never strayed far from grandma's Diet Dr. Pepper.
He pretty much watched the entire parade from the four wheeler. Even though it was blazing hot, he refused to get off for more than five minutes at a time.
My dad on grill duty at Miss Marci's birthday.
Aren't they (AKA mom and grandma) hilarious? They think they are!
Easton was the only one with hips narrow enough to take Taj down the slide. Obviously Taj was loving it:)
My brother Matt and his wife Ali.
The centerpiece for my sister's tables at her birthday party. We made a handful of paper flowers under the birthday girl's direction and then drank almond punch with vintage paper straws out of mason jars.
The birthday girl and her hubby Brian.
Miss Marci's 21st birthday party. It was pure Americana: family, lots of food, lots of friends, even more kids, and a lot of fun!

Father/Son Bonding

2011-07-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Brannon's new weight loss plan: A 10 speed Huffy, circa 1980 something, extra large seat, fanny pack, bell on the handle bars, and 30 pound child on the back. They love going for bike rides together and I love that I have some time to myself at night. Not only do I get a kiss from Brannon before they leave, but when Brannon is home Taj does everything his daddy does, so I get one from Taj too:)
He did not want his picture taken, nor did he want me encroaching on his time with daddy!

Never mind all the grease from the bike chain down the front of his shirt and up his arms. He saw his daddy fixing the bike chain and decided he would give it a try as soon as daddy walked away. He looks like a little mechanic! Looking at this picture reminds me, sadly, that he is growing up way too fast!

Did I mention...

2011-07-12T17:49:00.001-07:00

Before
Before
After
After
I didn't realize I smurfitized myself until after the fact. Good thing I was wearing old sandals!

Did I mention that I love KSL Classifieds? We needed another dresser for the baby's room so I hit the classifieds. We bought it for about $30 dollars and I spent about another $30 to shine it up a bit and I love how it turned out!

Fireworks

2011-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

Instead of going to the late night fireworks, we did our own little fireworks show at home. I think this will become a tradition for our family. Taj LOVED the snakes/worms, sparklers, and pop-its. He could have cared less about all the other cool, expensive, fireworks we got for him. At least Brannon had fun lighting them and I enjoyed watching them:)

Happy 4th: Part 2

2011-07-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

This was our favorite part of the parade. A fleet of vintage VW vans, trucks, and beetles was part of the parade. We've seen this rig around town and Brannon loves it. He says he would like one just like it, surfboard, rust, and all.

Not so sure about the saltwater taffy. He spit it out a few minutes later.
About the only smile we've gotten out of him today. I think the heat makes toddlers ornery. I know that it makes me ornery too, just ask anyone in my family;)
How dare daddy tell me to sit down!
You can tell by the look on Taj's face how exciting the parade was:) The only part he really liked was the Davis High Marching Band because he got the chance to dance to their music (he loves dancing).
He does have a flare for the dramatic. I think this fit lasted about five minutes (which is a long time in toddler time) and included a lot of whining, kicking of the feet, gnashing of the teeth, and rolling around. He finished by standing up and swatting me on the belly and running away. That's my sweet little angel boy!

We went to the 4th of July parade in Kaysville this year. I am sorry to say that it was pretty disappointing. Coming from a small town I expected that a parade in a big town would have a lot of floats and fanfare. I counted three decorated floats, countless vehicles with signs on the side, two marching bands, a lot of fire trucks and police cars (all blaring their sirens at full blast), and a ton of parade police that kept riding back and forth blowing their whistles and moving people back off the road. We made it through about an hour and a half of it and decided to leave because it was so hot and humid. We were lucky and had cloud cover, but it felt like we were in a sauna. Blanding and Monticello definitely have better parades! We spent the rest of our day in the coolness of our basement and plan on doing our own little fireworks show tonight. I'm sure we'll just watch the other fireworks from our backyard since they will be so close. It was a good ol' Americana weekend filled with good food and good people!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Taj sitting on the time-out stump. It was perfect because it was high up enough that he couldn't get down by himself;)

It only took us an hour to walk up this little stretch of road because of the water. Taj loves throwing rocks in the water and the runoff is so bad this year that nearly this whole road was flooded out with water. Look at all those rocks to throw! Taj of course thinks he has to throw every single one and when he got bored with the rocks, he just decided to walk through the water instead.

Taj's first fruit roll-up. He had more fun unrolling it than actually eating it.
Learning how to blow bubbles, only I bought the cheap kind and they didn't work, so Taj resorted to walking around chewing on the wand instead.

Here he is trying to hand me something yucky he found on the floor. I was too afraid it was a bug, so I wouldn't touch it.
Taj pushed this dump truck for miles. He ran it up the rocky dirt road by our campsite nearly all day. Once he got to the top of the hill, he liked to watch his dump truck cruise back down the hill by itself. On the way up the hill he kept pausing to hold his lower back. All that crouching down and running would hurt my back too!

Brannon always like a picture of "our campsite," so here it is!

Part 1 of our 4th of July weekend began in the Uintah mountains. Brannon has been dying to try out our new camp trailer and finally the perfect weekend presented itself. We stayed for two nights and I have to say that camping was A LOT easier in a camp trailer vs. the two man tent we used to use. For starters, I can actually sleep for more than two hours in a camp trailer because I'm not freaking out over every little noise I hear, worried that a monster bear or mountain lion is going to rip our tent and us to shreds any minute. It's a lot warmer and much more comfortable sleeping in the camp trailer too, which is a definite bonus for a big pregnant lady. Brannon planned all the meals for the trip and even made me a grocery list. I think he was pretty proud of himself because he had everything all planned out. I was proud of him too for taking charge of the cooking. Cooking in the woods he'll do, but cooking in the kitchen--out of the question! He did a great job. Hopefully I convinced him that he really does know how to cook so that he'll be willing to try out his camp chef skills at home:) I think it's safe to say that Taj LOVES camping. He spent the majority of the time throwing rocks, pushing his dump truck around, wasting our water (he liked pushing the spout), exploring the country side , and helping his daddy cook and build fires. It was tough getting him to go to sleep at night, but at least he stayed asleep once he was down and one morning he slept until 9:30! I consider this camping trip a success as I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and we didn't blow an old trailer tire on the way up (we did lose a hubcap on the way back though:)). It was fun to watch Taj have a good time and to just spend time together as a family.

Then They Bring Me a Rose

2011-06-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Taj and Brannon picked me this rose on one of their walks together while I was at the gym. Brannon knows I LOVE roses and I love how they smell even more. They picked it off our neighbor's rose bush (thank goodness they asked!). It did have a stem on it, but Taj shook it so hard the blossom flew off. It was the perfect gift at the end of a long day.

I know that every mom out there has a day once in awhile or perhaps more often than that, that everything seems to go wrong. For example, last week I had an especially hard day. It started out good, but waking up was the only good thing about it. I was rushing to pack up myself and Taj for a weekend trip. We had waken up way too late in the morning for having to leave in the early afternoon. For the past week Taj will NOT go to sleep until 12:30 a.m. or later. It doesn't matter that we put him in bed hours before that, for some reason he is just off lately. Of course I don't go to bed until he is asleep because I can't sleep until I know he's tucked safe and sound in his bed fast asleep. Then he wakes up at 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning and so do I. Anyway, the point is I was already running late and in the middle of packing Brannon calls me and tells me I need to take the car in to get the tires changed before we leave. He knows I'm always late on a traveling day anyway, so picture me already stressed out trying to pack, clean the house, and tie up too many loose ends on a project that I've been working on before I leave town and the internet. I grudgingly told Brannon that I could have the tires changed. Once at the tire store Taj disappeared in the numerous racks of tires and actually climbed inside one of the racks and started knocking tires over, tearing signs off tire displays, and all sorts of other naughty things. I was about to go crazy at this point. So after barely making it through the tire change and lunch at Arby's, I rushed home to throw our bags in the car, answer quite a few time sensitive emails, and to lock down the house like Fort Knox (Brannon: Now make sure all the windows and door are locked and that the toilet in the hallway bathroom isn't leaking, and that the shower knobs are turned all the way off so the shower doesn't link, and check the sink in the kitchen too, and make sure the A/C is turned off (we don't want it running all weekend), and make sure the garage door is shut and my shed is locked). Quite the check list isn't it? My major concern of the afternoon was a big meeting I had. I showed up to the meeting to find that it was delayed and then when the meeting finally did commence, it didn't go well. By that point, I was way late to pick up Brannon and I concluded it was not a very good day at all. I know it's not a good day when the events provoke tears and I haven't cried in a long time! To top off the rest of the day, we spent the next five hours cramped in the little black Corolla traveling south. On the way we managed to get stuck in a Taco Time drive thru for almost an hour and Taj's sippy cup full of chocolate milk was dumped (without the lid on) over the top of my head and all over my new shirt and pants. At that point I swore and then I laughed. It seemed the perfect ending to the worst day. Then I thought how thankful I am that my biggest concerns and sorrows of the day were still nothing compared to many of those around me. I thought that some people would be grateful to have only my problems for the day. Then the day didn't seem so bad after all.

Popsicles

2011-06-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have glad tidings! I believe that after only a week of brushing, we are seeing an improvement in Taj's eating. I'm not sure if his better eating habits (eating two meals a day now instead of one or none) are directly correlated to the brushing, but obviously we are going to keep on brushing and hope for more wonderful results. Of course you can't have your cake and eat it too (so cliche I know!)...because Taj has also given up nap time this week. I don't know why. I don't know how, but I'm on the verge of panic mode. I'm hoping it's only a phase and that his good nap time habits will resurface very soon! On the bright side, at least I can put a movie on in my room and he will just lay on the bed and veg-out for at least an hour. So I do get a little break, but sometimes I want a sleepy break too. I know, it's a rough life I live. I really do consider myself very blessed that the only major thing I had to worry about the last two days was whether or not Taj was going to go down for a nap. It's been a really great summer so far and an even better pregnancy. I definitely haven't put on as much weight as I did with Taj and I'm not all puffy and swollen this time around. I'm still waiting on the puffy and swollen to gear up with the heat of the summer, but for now, I am enjoying being able to wear any of the shoes out of my closet. I think having a little person to follow around all day has helped me to stay in better shape this time around. Happy summer everyone!

Sand

2011-06-21T13:07:00.001-07:00

Taj was bored in our backyard, so I cruised the local KSL classifieds and found him a sandbox. I didn't want to buy a new one just in case he didn't even like it. I guess even if he does just like it for just a few weeks, at least I didn't pay much for it! I bought the sand from Home Depot for only $3.43 a bag. I think that's pretty cheap considering it only took two bags to fill it. For anyone looking for sand for their sandbox, the sand I bought is called "Play Sand," made and cleaned specifically for sandboxes.
Good thing the sand was cheap because Taj doesn't know that the sand is supposed to STAY in the box. Besides filling up his car with it, there are little sand piles all over our backyard now, which drives Brannon crazy because he's pretty OCD when it comes to the yard. I just laugh because to me that's parenthood and those little sand piles all over our yard are reminders that we have a healthy, active, little boy running around the place, or should I say practically RUNNING the place!
This is what summertime does to little boys and I love it. What I don't love is that our bed has become Taj's new camp out spot. I have caught him more than once with his shoes on burrowed down in our nice, clean sheets snacking on Oreos or Doritos or whatever else he has found to snack on. Besides finding sand in our sheets, you can also find crumbs and the occasional dried booger. Lucky for me, he prefers Brannon's side of the bed, so I stay relatively untouched by Taj's grimy boy habits:)

Idiosyncrasies

2011-06-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is the brush (a surgical nail brush)that Taj has to be brushed with 3 times a day as part of his therapy. After he gets brushed (arms, back, legs, hands, feet), we do 10 joint compressions to his wrists, elbows, shoulders, and knees. We just started this brushing therapy a couple days ago, but we should see some results in his behavior in about a week, which I'm really excited about.
Taj getting some help doing joint compressions on his knees. We hold him and let him jump 10 times in the air.
Taj is getting his feet scrubbed with the brush and as you can see it tickles a lot!

Everyone has their idiosyncrasies, that weird quirk about them. Me, for example, the sound of people chewing gum, bread, bananas, basically anything that makes a weird smacking or clikcing noise drives me nuts. It always has and people can't quite understand why I just can't "get over it." Well, this particular quirk has plagued me since about the 7th grade when for some reason I became aware of noises that mouths make. Anyway.....I'm not doing this post about my weird quirks, that was just an example! No, this post is about my sweet two and half year old boy, Taj.

Taj is just like the average two year old in every way (active, curious, trouble on wheels, etc.). However, as of the past year, we have noticed that his speech is a little slow in coming, which isn't too abnormal considering boys take a little longer for speech and he's the first child. It has become more of a concern over the past three months, seeing as Taj maybe only says about 20 words. Of those 20 words. I haven't heard him say "momma, mommy or daddy" for at least a year and other words he used to say have disappeared as well. It's really hard to be around other little kids much younger than Taj and hear them saying words and sentences. Taj does surprise us every once in a while and blurt out a sentence or two, but it's definitely not consistent. He's very good at carrying on long babbling conversations with whoever will listen, so it's not like he's silent either. We've had his hearing checked and he's been tested for other things such as Autism. We tried an unsuccessful 5 months of speech therapy, so I cancelled that and started doing some research of my own. Taj has a lot of peculiar idiosyncrasies about him. For example, he can't stand the seam of a sock that doesn't lay right on his toes, the collar of a shirt, a tag, walking on grass or sand at the park, he's so particular and picky with texture of food that some days he doesn't eat anything at all except a few crackers, he doesn't like changes in schedule or dirty hands, extreme tantrums over having hair/nails cut, etc. All that may not seem that unusual, but add a speech delay and overly picky eating to that and obviously there's a problem.

Upon hearing someone mention "sensory disorder" at the park one day, I went home and googled the term. What I found shocked me. There are numerous sensory disorders I didn't even know existed and when I started reading the symptoms list for children with sensory disorders, I knew I had found out why Taj does the things he does. It was such a relief to me after a year of stressing out over Taj to find out what may be the reason behind his speech delay and very poor eating habits. I immediately made an appt. with an occupational therapist through the state health department, but wasn't satisfied with the therapist's response to Taj which was basically, "We all have idiosyncrasies, people just have to learn to get over it." Obviously Taj doesn't know how to "just get over it" and neither do we, so I went to the school district and found the help I sought for. Their occupational therapist evaluated Taj and determined that Taj has a Tactile Sensory Disorder, meaning, he is hypersensitive to touch in some aspects and hyposensitive to sensation when it comes to his mouth. (I'm not sure I have the terms right, I'm still learning for myself) The good news is that we are going to get help for Taj in both occupational therapy and speech. They are going to help him learn to eat better and help jump start his speech and get him on the right track. After soooo much anxiety and stressing every single day over eating and speech for the past year, it is such a relief when you find someone who can help you. I believe the sooner you get help when you sense something is off, the better.

Another Home Improvement Project

2011-05-31T21:33:00.001-07:00

I have to say that this project wouldn't have been possible without the help of Brannon's friend Cody Mortensen. Construction is his forte and he is a perfectionist and did a fantastic job. If anyone is looking for someone to do this kind of work, he is the one to call for sure. Thanks again Cody (and his wife Suzie for letting him spend about three days at our house working on this!)

After: New deck and newly painted railings. We were just going to replace the front of the deck, but upon removing the front part of the old deck, we discovered the entire deck was rotted, so we just decided to tear the whole thing off and start over.
We also added new black shutters to the windows to give it a little more curb appeal. See the bare bones flower bed? Well, that's next. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do right there as far as landscaping.

The new light, which I love! This one emits a warm, friendly glow that doesn't scare off people and animals like our last one did:)
Before: The rotted out redwood deck!
Before: I call this little beauty Sputnik because it was basically as big as a satellite and just as bright. It is a motion light and I never could decide whether to turn it on at night because A: If it was on, anyone who came near our house was basically blinded by this spotlight and B: I worried if I didn't turn it on, someone might trip and fall off our deck. Hmmm....blind our guests or let them fall off our deck??? Which does more damage? Obviously it had to go!
Before: rotted out stairs

Before deck and shutter replacement

During

It's A Girl!!!

2011-05-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

So we are halfway there AND we are so excited to be welcoming a baby girl to our family. I thought for sure I would be one of those moms that was "blessed" with all boys since I was such a girly girl growing up, but obviously, someone else had other plans, thank goodness! I am about 21 weeks now and I know I look HUGE already! People are always surprised to hear that I'm not due until October. I'm afraid it is going to be like last time with people asking me if I'm having twins because I was so big. I'm trying to be super careful with my eating this time so I don't gain as much weight and hopefully I'll be able to lose the baby weight quicker this time! We are actually pretty set on a name right now...I know, miraculous, especially considering we didn't name Taj for about two weeks after he was born because we couldn't decide on a name. We are set on Haven (spelling still being debated) Mary (still not 100% on the middle name) Morse (sure on this one:)). I am getting so excited for her to be here and it seems like forever away!

Spring Time is Finally Here!

2011-05-15T19:13:00.001-07:00

Spring time is finally here, which calls for a jig at our house!

Title: Mother

2011-05-08T18:39:00.001-07:00

This Mother's Day I can't help but be eternally grateful for having the privilege of being called "mother." I never knew that being a mother would help me understand not only myself (and my many flaws), but to better understand the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. Having a child really is like watching your heart live and breath on the outside of you. It's almost painful because I worry about all the "what ifs" that could happen to my sweet boy and I realize there is only so much I can do and the rest is in the Lord's hands. It is for this reason that I will be forever ever indebted to Christ and the Lord for the wonderful gift of eternal life, eternal families. Raising Taj so far has definitely not been easy, but I am so thankful that he is living, breathing, experiencing life, bringing me joy, and teaching me many lessons along the way. Being a mother is turning out to be the best experience of my life and I find more enjoyment in it than I thought possible each and every day. Today I want to thank not only the mothers in my life, but all the mothers out there who love, listen, help, serve, comfort, uplift, laugh, and have been a light in someone's life out there. Our world is able to go around because of mothers. My heart also aches for all of those who have lost their mothers, for those who may not get the chance to be a mother in this life, and for those dear mothers who have lost a child. I think Mother's Day is not only a day for celebrating the mothers in our lives, but for honoring those lost or those who have lost. May you find peace on this day.

THE official Easter Post: Part 2

2011-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

I have my sister Marci to thank for the Easter pics on this post. She is after all, a photographer (these are unedited of course) and it was so nice to not have to worry about taking pictures during the Easter egg hunt, so thanks Marce! I just got to enjoy watching Taj do his first hunt without running around trying to get him to look at the camera just once. Taj loved the Easter egg hunt and had all of his eggs collected within the first five minutes. The only way we could stop him was to open up the eggs he did find and start feeding him the candy. Holidays are so much fun with little kids. I hope I can make them as magical as my parents did for me and my siblings when I was a kid.

Nearly my entire family was up for the holiday and it was so much fun being together and laughing and goofing around and being crammed all under one roof. It was noisy and fun. I prefer the noise to the silence...of course the only silence I ever hear is when Taj is actually sleeping:) I hope everyone else was able to spend time with their families and loved ones this Easter. It really is family that makes a holiday!

THE official Easter Post: Part 1

2011-04-29T08:09:00.001-07:00

This picture cracks me up. I love how my mom's leg is sticking out perpendicular from her body and how my belly is nearly knocking my sister out of the way and how it looks like Macee (the short one next to me) has only one leg and how Marci was the only one able to pull of the whole kick up your leg pose:)

This is the only picture we could get where he was halfway smiling. I wanted a picture of us in our Easter best, but Taj was unwilling to cooperate with anyone except grandpa. My little brother who is not so little anymore. He is 6'1'' at 15 years old and still growing. In fact they had to buy him new jeans again, for the like the second time this year, because he is growing so fast. My question: Why didn't I get tall genes? I definitely got the short end of the stick, literally!

Myself, my mom, and my two sisters in our Easter Sunday best.
Grandpa and Taj. I should note that when grandpa is around, everyone else can go suck an egg for all Taj cares. I think every single one of us got whacked by Taj that weekend EXCEPT grandpa.
Auntie Marci doing some holding therapy.
Out of everything he got for Easter, the Pez dispenser won out. The kid absolutely loves Pez. Sometimes when I have to go to an appointment and I have to take Taj with me, I buy a Pez dispenser and plenty of Pez candy to go with it because I know that as long as the candy keeps popping magically out of the dispenser, that he'll stay mesmerized for at least an hour!

Belated Easter Cheer

2011-04-28T21:31:00.001-07:00

I am way behind on my posting, thus the Easter window cling post nearly a week after Easter. I actually bought these clings two weeks before Easter and thought they might be fun for Taj to put on the front room window (which I'm sure Brannon would have loved had they actually stayed on the window...for those of you who don't know Brannon personally, he considers all holiday window clings and giant blow-up decor for the front yard as "tacky." I'm sure our kids will break him of this perspective in a few more years:)) Anyway, the clings didn't last more than 15 minutes before Taj figured out how much more fun it was to rip the clings in half. Sadly, not even the Easter bunny survived and I'm still finding bits of that gel stuck all over the house. Glad they didn't cost much!

(THE official Easter post coming soon...mom)

Sidewalk Chalk

2011-04-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, he didn't feel comfortable driving his car across mom's handiwork, so he pushed the car across it and side stepped around it. And yes, it was pajama day at our house. This day he was sporting some pretty hot Lighting MacQueen jammies.

Check out that handy work, the boy's a genius right? Of all places to draw, he chose the wheels, but he LOVES wheels on anything and I guess he thought they needed some flare;)
Taj tricking out his ride with some hand-drawn flames or worms or whatever it was he drew on his tires. With a two year old, everything is always up for interpretation.

Sidewalk chalk is a new thing for us this summer. I don't know what everyone else does with their kids, but we were getting pretty bored around here and the chalk entertained for at least one day. Technically I think Taj was entertained for about 20 min. tops, but at least I won't be bored while I watch him play outside:)

In Myself I Believe

2011-04-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Taj and I both love this video. He's got Will's moves down to a "T" now. Seriously though, if you are in a bad mood or are having a bad day, listen to this song. This is the best sesame street song ever!

Thankful

2011-04-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

A common occurrence: this boy hates wearing pants AND his diaper as well:)
I think every parent has some days, or maybe a lot of days, where it feels like raising kids is the hardest thing ever. I had one of those days yesterday. Taj has been sick this week: running fevers, bad cough, throwing up, etc. I can handle a sick kid and the sleep deprivation, but what I can't handle is when he won't take his medicine voluntarily and I fail at forcing him to take it when he's running a high fever and coughing so much he pukes. It makes me so frustrated! At one point I lost my patience with him after he spit out the medicine down the sides of his face and in his hair for the fourth time in a row and I gave him a little spat on the bum. Keep in mind he has practically no bum and lots of padding from the diaper, so he probably didn't even feel it. What he did feel though, was that I was mad at him and I could tell his feelings were hurt. Then I felt bad for losing my temper with a sick kid. Then I felt like a horrible parent. What kind of a mom gives her sick kid a spank?! In a last ditch effort to give him his medicine, I mixed it into some apple juice for him. One sip however and he was spitting and screaming and crying again. At that point, I was still frustrated with him, so I just left him with the sippy in his room and put him to bed, crying. Then I felt even worse because I knew he wanted to be snuggled, but I couldn't bear to go back in the room yet. So I started reading blogs. Then Brannon called me (he's away on business this week) and asked how things were going and I just started crying. I cried to him for like half an hour (poor guy).I felt a little better after talking to him, but I still felt bad about losing it with Taj and I think I even may have felt a little sorry for myself, seeing as I was alone taking care of a sick kid. Then I started reading some blogs I'd never seen before, about parents who'd had tragedy strike their kids. Then I realized how thankful I was to have Taj, alive and well (well mostly well) in the other room and that I still got to hug him, kiss him, and hold him. I realized I was thankful for the noise, the mess, the chaos, the tantrums, the good days and the bad. I realized that silence would kill me. I realized how ungrateful I'd been and now I'm so glad that I've been reminded of what a great blessing it is to have children and I'm going to do better about being thankful for every moment of parenthood, good and bad.

Last night I thought of an analogy. I kept trying to force Taj to take the medicine because I knew it would help heal him. He didn't know that and refused to take it. The taste alone was enough to scare him off. I realized that this is kind of how we act with Heavenly Father. He never forces us to to do anything, but He knows what's good for us and a lot of times we refuse to follow His path because we think we know better or the path we're prompted to take doesn't look appetizing to us. I realized I need to put more trust in His plan for me, whatever that plan is and wherever it may take me because only He knows what experiences will make me the best me I can be.

If any of you are wondering which blogs I was looking at, here they are: patrickandashley.blogspot.com , dylandshaw.blogspot.com , and zachandtessie.blogspot.com. These are some amazing people and you will find in every blog that the way these great people are able to weather the storm of the tragedy that has struck their lives is through the gospel. I'm so glad I know what I know. It really does make life a lot easier! Grab a box of tissues before you sit down, just warning you!

Big News!

2011-04-07T16:08:00.000-07:00

Morse baby #2 is on his or her way, due October 15th! So I now will have two October birthdays, makes it kind of easy to remember for grandparents I think;) The good news is that the doctor I found is willing to induce me a week earlier than my due date, which means I'll have just enough time to throw Taj his big 3 year old birthday bash before I have the baby. Obviously we are hoping for a girl this time around, especially Brannon, but I don't really care if it's a boy or a girl, just as long and he or she is mellow in comparison to Taj:) I am 13 weeks, so I am at the end of my first trimester. I have to say that I really lucked out this time as far as morning sickness. I didn't get sick once. I mostly just felt queasy 24 hours a day. I am so blessed compared to what other women have to go through. I'm sure we'll have an ultrasound in about six weeks to find out what we're having. I'm so excited for that! My goals this pregnancy: to exercise and not gain 60 lbs. like I did last time:( People lie when they tell you the baby weight falls right off afterwards because it doesn't! I started showing at 8 weeks and when I tell Taj there's a baby in mommy's belly, he looks at me he couldn't care less and then uses my belly as a pillow. He actually loves sitting on my lap now and he's fallen asleep twice doing it:)

Life's Lessons

2011-04-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

An unexpected, but delightful surprise that happens on rare occasions: Taj falling asleep on his own.
Taj making his fishy lips at the camera. He still doesn't like to have his picture taken, but he was willing to give me the fishy lips. Usually, when I point the camera at him he tells me "No! Don't!" and then grabs on to my pant leg to brace himself while he tries to kick me in the shin. When I say kick, I really mean more like tap. I know I shouldn't, but I always laugh because I think it's so funny that he has to hold on to me to kick me so he doesn't fall over:) I love this boy so much...he really is my world and he doesn't even know it.
This pic is pre-haircut for the month. He gets bird hair. It just sticks straight up when it grow out...it NEVER lays down, so that's why we have to keep it short.

Back when I was in high school, I thought I knew everything I needed to know for the rest of my life. I was pretty sure that I'd been through the refiner's fire and that I was a finely polished stone upon graduation. I couldn't imagine what new things life would have for me to learn since in my teenage mind, I'd pretty much lived life. Then I went to college and I got married and I figured out that I really didn't know anything. A slow and frightening realization began to occur to me, that life had A LOT of things left for me to learn...that just when I thought I had life figured out, something else new would happen and an entirely new, never before thought of experience would change my life yet again. That's when the "milk before meat" concept came to mind. How naive could I have been to think that one would learn all they need to about life at the ripe old age of 18?! I realized that the experiences you have in each phase of your life teach you something new and that I am sure to have countless more unforeseen experiences that will test every part of my being until I really am a polished stone. I've decided that one is never done being polished or refined while here on earth, which is good, which allows us perpetual growth. I figure that is how it's going to be after this life as well...amazing isn't it? That we have the potential to just keep getting better and better? It's kind of hard to imagine since most people imagine perfection as a destination and not as a continual process.

Parenthood and marriage are definitely much needed stations in life for me right now. I don't know how else I would have been able to learn the things I have learned and am still learning not only about myself, but about life in general. You know, nothing's ever come easy for me in life, but I would rather it be that way. Otherwise life would be boring. I crave adventure, spontaneity. The spice of life, one may call it and amazingly, it can be found right in the walls of our own homes. My family is my adventure now and I'm going to try to be grateful every day for it and not question why or why not something is or isn't happening for me. I'm learning to put my FULL trust in the Lord and to enjoy life knowing that if I do my best, He will take care of the rest...and there's nothing else to worry about.

You're Following an Aristocrat

2011-03-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

I love the faded out sign stamped into the back of the trailer that says, "You're following an Aristocrat." I also love that it's flanked by two bass fish. Maybe back in the day only Aristocrats pulled these kinds of trailers with their long Lincoln or Plymouth cars, but I think the sign is so funny now, considering anyone but an Aristocrat is now hauling it. Watch out people, here come the Griswold's!
I LOVE this kitchen. I just love the blue appliances and the silver backdrop. It's so cute, so vintage! I'm loving that it's not a vintage orange or green!

Brannon just couldn't part with this picture because, "It's got a buck in it." I didn't protest seeing as the trailer is an outdoor rig. Thank goodness Brannon didn't put in for the hunt this year, otherwise I'm sure this would've ended up on the deer hunt! (There goes my clean trailer)
I'm pretty sure the previous owner just took the radio out of his old car and stuck it in here. We only get AM radio with it, but some radio is better than none right? I think it's cool.

This is our latest find off KSL.com. We were absolutely in love with the tear drop trailers, but the price of those tiny things was enough to make us cry and for me to bite off my fingernails, soooo we settled for something just as vintage, but much cheaper. Let me introduce you to our 1967 Aristocrat. It was in such good shape (everything working and I mean everything!) and a huge bonus for me: it was super clean too. Usually trailers that old are pretty torn up and grimy, but this one had one caring owner it's whole life. Another plus: no stinky, musty smell that most old trailers acquire with time. We've already cleaned it top to bottom and Brannon even got it licensed and registered after we'd only had it for two days. I think that maybe he's a little excited to try out the Aristocrat. I have to admit, after our near miss with the bear last time we were camping in our tent, camping just got a whole lot less scary for me now that we'll have something of substance between us and the outdoors. I know it looks kind of long in the photos I took, but seriously, it's super short and super light, which means we don't have to have a truck to pull it. We are actually just putting a hitch on our Highlander so hopefully pulling it is a breeze. I'm not sure, but I think camping is going to appear on our agenda a lot more this summer:)

CHA-MO-MEE-LAY

2011-03-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Since I practically grated my knuckle off on the cheese grater tonight while making a "gourmet" dish that I thought a nice wedge of grated Parmesan would compliment nicely, Brannon was the hero of the night and opted to do bath time for me. I gimped my way through the dinner dishes just fine, but the thought of taking on Taj and a nightly soaking when he doesn't want to get out made my knuckle start crying all over again.

To make things a little easier for Brannon, I set out Taj's pajamas, a clean diaper, and a new bottle of lotion with Chamomile scent. It's supposed to be calming right? Er wait, am I thinking of Lavender? Either way, Taj would be more calming to me if he smelled like Chamomile when he's throwing a classic two year old fit. Somehow Brannon managed to get Taj out of the tub without getting soaked himself and when I walked passed Taj's room where Brannon was getting Taj all lathered up with the new lotion, I first saw Brannon scrutinizing the label on the lotion bottle and then I heard him say, "Cha....Cha....Cha...mo...mee...lay" I was like "What was that?" And when I finally realized what he was trying to do, I laughed...I know sooooo rude, but it was the funniest thing I've heard all day. That's when I told him it's Chamomile, you know, like the herb, like Lavender. They make scented lotions, candles, herbal tea and the like with it.

You really can't blame a guy if he doesn't know what Chamomile is. Brannon is more of a man's man if you know what I mean, not in to that girly herbal stuff. At least he was resourceful and tried to use Spanish to interpret the word since he didn't recognize it in English:) I love this guy!

Ramen Noodle Parfait

2011-02-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

He loves wearing his dad's hats, especially when you can see through them, because what fun is a hat if you can't wear it on your face?
This makes my stomach turn...blegh! I made him Ramen Noodles for lunch because two weeks ago it was the only thing he would eat and lately he will eat nothing but potato chips. This kid is going to give me ulcers! I stress so much about him not eating, about how to keep him alive since the little stubborn stinker refuses to eat anything I put in front of him. In this pic, he decided he didn't want his Ramen Noodles or his pears, so he dumped his Ramen Noodles into his pear cup and made a messy parfait. Upon completing this task, he announced: "All done!" and jumped down from the table. I love that boy! I know my life will never be boring with him around:)

Crisis

2011-02-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile friends and mainly because I've been stressing A LOT over something that I've wanted to keep private in the event that things didn't work out....but I'm at a point where I'm having trouble knowing what to do.

Let me start at the beginning. You remember forever ago when I entered that design contest for Shabby Apple? Well I didn't win, didn't even come close to it. My hopes weren't shattered however and I continued to work on my dress sketches for the next two months. One day as I was reading the fine print on Shabby Apple's website, I discovered a link for an Emerging Designers Program. I thought I'd discovered a way to still get my dress designs out there, so I submitted my designs for the approval of the Shabby Apple design team. I was on pins and needles for a week waiting for a reply. My whole take on the deal was at least I can say I tried and not regret not turning my designs in. About a week later I got a reply back from one of the owners of Shabby Apple and the news was more than good: they liked my designs and thought they would fit in perfectly with Shabby Apple. I was sooooo excited. I couldn't believe that they'd actually liked my designs, especially since they looked like kindergarten drawings compared to a real designer's sketches.

The next step for me was to find a pattern and sample maker, which I did and she's fabulous because so far she's been able to turn my sketches into real dresses. She also happens to be the production manager for Shabby Apple too, so I feel like I got the best of the best. I've learned so much about the clothing business from her so far and it's been great for me to have a mentor through this process.

So what's the problem you all ask? Well my biggest hang up is financing. I went in to this knowing that I'd be responsible for manufacturing costs of my dress line. It's part of the terms of the Emerging Designers Program. The part I didn't know was how much it was actually going to cost me and then I fell flat on my face. It is a substantial amount of money. I don't want to go to the bank for a loan because I know I would have a high interest rate and IF my dresses sold well with Shabby Apple, I would make little to no profit on account of having to repay the loan and the interest. The other problem is what IF my dresses didn't sell well because of the way the economy is going right now. It would be too much stress to try to pay back a loan with my husband's income because we just don't have that much extra left over, especially since the cost of living is sky rocketing through the roof.

My other plan was to go to family and see if I might be able to get funding there, patient money, but I think most everyone is holding on tight to what they have because the costs of living are going up and there is much turmoil in the world that is affecting all of our pocketbooks.

So my question is: where do I go from here? I will have six sample dresses completed by mid-March and if I can't work something out with Shabby Apple, I'm not sure what to do. I just don't want this to be a waste of time, effort, and money not only on my part, but on the part of the people at Shabby Apple too. The only reason I am posting this on the blog is because I thought that maybe some outside eyes would have a perspective that I've failed to see thus far. I am going to talk with the Shabby Apple people this week. I am hoping and praying with all my heart that if this is meant to be that a way will be opened to me.

Another Grease Incident

2011-02-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

Taj: Obviously loving his Valentine's present from Grandma Nielson. He walked around making the lion kiss everything and then he requested that I kiss puppy-eyed lion too.
Newest best thing ever! He falls asleep on his own for naps now!
His latest trick, which he would have been willing to show off the rest of the night if I would have let him. Now that I think about it, I don't think he knew how to get the shirt back on the right way anyway...as you can see in the pic below:)
p.s. I know you can see his ribs! I hate it too! The kid is the pickiest eater on the planet, but don't worry, I keep him pumped up on whole milk and chocolate flavored meal replacement powder. Thank goodness he loves it!

Anyone recall the Vaseline Incident of 2010, involving a one and a half year old...MY one and a half year old in particular??? Well, he's done it again! I hope he doesn't make this an annual ritual...I'm sure my bedspread won't survive another grease drenching! You want to know what kind of grease he dumped all over my bed this time? (Disclaimer: my dignity is on vacation...) Has anyone ever heard of a product called "Astro Glide"? If you don't know what it is, look it up. This particular event occurred on a nice, sunny afternoon this week. We were about two minutes from being out the door and on our way to the park to enjoy the rare appearance of the sun when the unthinkable happened. I heard the little stinker rummaging around in my room (which he does on a daily basis) as I was finishing the last of my lunch and thought I'd better investigate. The first thing I blurted out when I walked in my room and saw what had happened was, "Oh Taj, you just ruined my lunch!" To my horror, he had unscrewed the cap off a NEW bottle of Astro Glide and I witnessed the last two drops coming out on my sheets and his lap. Upon further investigation, I discovered a large pool of oil on the floor, on my comforter, on my sheets, and all over Taj's pants. When I asked him what he was doing, he replied by rubbing his greasy little hands together with a big grin on his face and then by rubbing the said grease through his hair. To make a long story short: I took quick action and mopped the grease off the floor, then I scrubbed the grease out of my comforter with a wet wash cloth as best I could, I then stripped the sheets from the bed and Taj's pants from his bottom and threw everything in the washer. I washed everything on hot! Guess what? Astro Glide actually comes out in the wash or at least it did for me and I can't see a grease stain anywhere on my comforter. So, he lucked out this time, or rather I lucked out this time. It just goes to show that you can't underestimate a toddler in any way! They will find ways to do thing you never thought possible!

p.s. We went to the park anyway and yes, Taj still had Astro Glide in his hair:)

Treadmill Child Safety Sensor

2011-02-16T21:46:00.001-08:00

This post is actually a follow-up to the "Treadmill" post that was done last week. For those of you who have treadmills and have youngsters that try to hop on with you and end up getting hurt, a fellow blogger notified me of a website https://www.lifespanonline.com.au/product.php?action=256 that sells a Child Safety Sensor. Apparently, you attach the device to the back of your treadmill and when it senses any movement approaching the rear of the treadmill, an alarm sounds. It sells for $65.00, but perhaps it can be found cheaper elsewhere.

I think this device may work well for crawling babies and perhaps a few quiet toddlers, but other than that most people (at least I can) hear their toddler approaching from a mile away! I think the biggest precaution that treadmill users with children can do to prevent injuries to their children is to just be aware of where their kids are at and what they are doing. Nothing can take the place of parental supervision:) However, it may be wise to remove the key that allows the treadmill to start and hide it in a safe place so that busy toddlers can't fire up the treadmill on their own, which is what my son did. If anyone out there has actually tried this device, please do share!

Bluff

2011-02-08T15:01:00.001-08:00

My sweet great grandma Dorothy Nielson passed away last week. She was 93 years old! I want to be like her when I get old someday. I know she had no regrets at the end of her life. She suffered through many unbearable trials and still always managed to keep a smile on her face. We used to visit her quite often when I was a little girl and I always remember raiding her old-fashioned candy that she kept in a crystal dish. She was always an optimist, even when her health was failing. She lived a good life and as my dad put it, "She was an ordinary hero" to many.
Bluff Cemetery

My dad paying his last respects to a woman who helped him get through life without a father.
Leave it to Taj to find the mop bucket to race down the handicap ramp.

My dad grew up in this house. He told us that when he lived here when he was a little boy, that they had a horse and when they fried eggs in the morning, the horse would stick its head through the window and they'd feed him eggs too:)

Treadmill Warning

2011-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have treadmills around the house, this is what it can do to your child's fingers. Taj turned the treadmill on a low setting and thought it would be fun to lay on his stomach and slide off the back of it. Once he fell off the end of it, he put his hand on the end of the treadmill where the tread wraps around and it sucked his hand up into the treadmill. Besides giving him a really bad sandpaper-like burn/hole on his finger, we think it broke his pinkie because it was so swollen and still is. Exercise equipment is just NOT safe for kids to play on. I can't tell you how sad it was:( He was in sooo much pain! I'm just so thankful it didn't do anything worse!

Hidden Talent

2011-01-31T20:35:00.001-08:00

One hidden talent that I just figured out I had (prepare to be amazed!): I can cook dinner and play cowboys at the same time! Wait, what?! No applause? I'm sure some of you are saying you can do this with your eyes closed! One word: overachievers...(or is that two?) These days, in my world, multitasking is no small feat. It's hard to do most anything around here without Taj tearing something up while I'm trying to do something productive around the house. Playing cowboys is Taj's latest obsession. He chooses which gun I get and then we walk around the house shooting those loud things over and over again. I make it a point not to point the gun at him. I figure it's never too early to start gun safety! Happy Monday everyone!

Big Steps

2011-01-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Taj finally discovered how fun it it to brush his teeth. Usually this process involves me pinning him down on my lap with his arms to his sides and I wait until he cries so that his mouth is open and I can give those little piranha teeth a good scrubbing. Tonight however, he pushed his little stool up to the sink and watched himself brushing his teeth in the mirror. After about 10 minutes I had to pry the toothbrush out of his fingers. I'm hoping this newfound love for dental care lasts!

Another first: he actually kind of liked the camera tonight. He kept stopping and posing for me. The look he gave me was like, "How about this mom? Is this look good? Wait let me do that one more time for you!"
THE latest must-have item of the week: a yellow bullet bike that Taj nabbed from grandma's house. He wouldn't get in the bath without it. In fact, when he couldn't find it in his toy box in his room, he jetted downstairs real quick, naked and all, and came back 20 seconds later, motorcycle in hand. I swear he never forgets where he puts things, which makes me wish even more that he could talk so that when he loses our car keys or the remote he could just tell us where he hid them.
Okay, so every time I glance at this it freaks me out because for a second that leaf looks like a dead mouse on my pillow. Really though, it's just a dead leaf, but it's special to me because Taj hand picked it out of the straggler dead leaves in our yard just for me. My first thought was: Oh how sweet, my first "flower" from Taj! (I'm not being facetious by the way either, I really did think it was sooo cute). Then he picked up his own leaf and we had a sword fight. I forgot that he's soooo in to Peter Pan lately. I'm assuming that I was Captain Hook and he was Peter Pan. I love that little boy!

Latest Project

2011-01-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

I took this yesterday at the end of a Taj the Terrible day. It was like the Lord was giving me one moment of peace and beauty to end the day with. It was just what I needed!
This is my latest sewing project. It is the second skirt that I've ever made. It took me about 2 1/2 hours, several pin pricks, an iron burn, measuring once and cutting twice several times, a half hour of picking out a hemline, and it's too small for me! So, my lovely sister is getting it. It's on it's way to AZ, hope you like it sister! It's made out of a cute eyelet material and it's a high-waisted pencil skirt. Very cute, but not on my bottom:)

All in a Day's Work

2011-01-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, he can still melt my heart after a Taj the Terrible day:)
I don't think so mister....sagging our pants is NOT the cowboy way!
This is what my couch also looks like, only in black pen. Looks great against the red microfiber.
You can't see it, but there is at least two inches of water in a three foot spread seeping into my wood floor after Taj toppled the humidifier.
These curtains didn't even last 24 hours in Taj's room. Poor things didn't stand a chance during nap time.
Yeah, maybe I said a little swear word under my breath when I walked in and saw this. Especially since the rod was brand new and now it's snapped to pieces...all I can do is sigh and be glad I didn't pay much for the rod!

*Not pictured, he also peed all over my bedspread today. I think it was the crowning moment of the day. I better just smile right? Someday....someday I will wish I could have these days back again....at least that's what everyone tells me:)

Trouble

2011-01-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Lately this boy has been giving me a run for my money.

Exhibit A: Four nights ago Brannon wasn't going to be home for dinner so I got me some Chinese take-out for dinner. These aren't just any noodles, they are vegetable lo mein, my favorite. The nice lady from the restaurant sent me home with a HUGE take-out box full of these noodles. Lucky for me Taj fell asleep on the way home so I got to eat my noodles in peace while he slept on the couch beside me. A quarter of the way in to these noodles, Taj starts to stir so I thought it would be a good idea to run upstairs and make him a sippy cup. He is soooo ornery when he wakes up from a late nap, I wanted to be prepared. You can't imagine what he did in the two minutes I was gone. I came back downstairs to hear him doing his cranky squeaks and to see him dumping the entire box of noodles, soy sauce and all, on my white carpet. My patience ran out at that point and Taj earned himself a spat on the bottom. I spent the next 20 minutes scrubbing my dinner out of the carpet.

Exhibit B: Three nights ago (one day after the noodles incident) I accidentally left a basket of nice, clean, folded laundry downstairs with the said boy. I come back downstairs not even a minute later and find the contents of that laundry basket strewn all over floor. My reaction: "What?! Why?! How?! That was a week's worth of folded laundry!" Now this is where the pictures come in. For some reason Taj took to the pajama bottoms that I got for Christmas. Whenever I wear them, he runs up and pets my leg because they are soooo soft. Well petting them wasn't enough anymore. He saw them in the bottom of the laundry basket and well, you know the rest of the story. Since then he freaks out if I put them on and he's been carrying them around like a blanket. Not only does he drag them around, but he sneaks off into the spare bedroom to try them on. If I walk in and he sees me seeing him trying them on, he gets really mad at me and takes them back off and runs away to another secret corner in the house to put them back on. Should I be worried?!

Chasing Rainbows

2011-01-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder if I spend too much time thinking of ways to chase rainbows. For the last three or fours years I have been burdened with an insatiable need to figure out who I truly am and what my purpose is in this world. We are all born to play different parts and I know that we will all play many parts in our individual lifetimes. I know there is folly in trying to define yourself with a single label or with a career or talent. Those are just things we do, but not who we are. It's hard to differentiate between who we are and what we do in terms of defining ourselves. The thought that always comes to mind is that I don't want to get to the end of my life and regret not taking some chances or trying things that I never thought I could do. I've only got this one life to live and I hope that I am and will live it to its fullest. So I guess the key is balance. I want to try new things and find out what I'm really passionate about doing. I've got a lot of things that I'm passionate for, but I want to find my niche in life and run with it. I guess most everyone dreams of getting paid for what they love to do. I know it takes hard work and dedication. I also know that it requires one to keep trying again and again. I've already failed at trying to do things that I'm passionate about, but I haven't given up. I think of Abraham Lincoln. He failed over and over again, but he was persistent.

I'm also aware of the fact that I am already living an adventure that a lot of people dream about. I have a good husband, I get to stay home, I have a sweet little boy, I have a house to live in, I have an education, and I have freedom. I don't want to jump off this boat to catch a rainbow....in other words, I don't want to let the most important people and times in my life pass me by because I'm in search of something that I already have. At this point I've resolved to be as adventurous and outgoing as I can be from home and only after I've fulfilled my obligations of the most important parts I play right now: mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend.

Happy 28th!

2011-01-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

Brannon turned 28 years old today...I can't believe it, we are almost 30!!! Correction: HE is almost 30 (I still have 5 more years). He always jokes that he is soooo much older than me, but we all know who the mature one is in this relationship;) I married a good man and this picture proves it. You see this is his deer from his highly coveted Paunsaugunt deer hunt. It's like the deer hunt you only get to do once in your life and when I told him there was no way he was hanging dead animals in our house, he kindly accepted my response and painted himself a wall in the dungeon and hung it down there. He puts up with a lot of my female hormones and Taj's two year old antics, but he always does it with a smile and a joke. Thanks for being such an awesome daddy and a good husband, we love you!

Progress...

2011-01-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

So since I last posted about Taj sending Spongebob for a swim, he has now gone potty two more times on his own. There is one little hang-up however...every time he does it, I'm not there to see it and when I walk in the bathroom I find him trying to transport the pee pee out of the potty chair into the big toilet with his hands. So the big question here is this: What do I say?! On the one hand I'm supposed to congratulate (jumping up and down, hands clapping, the whole bit) him for going pee pee in the big boy potty and on the other hand, he's got his hands in the pee pee and I don't want him associating excitement and encouragement with putting your hands in pee! I think we're making progress here. Maybe I just need to teach him how to dump his own potty chair in the big toilet. I'm guessing I'm going to need to keep a LOT of Clorox wipes on hand!

I know this photo is totally unrelated to the above statement, but you remember my post forever long ago where I mentioned that I was making my own decorative pillows as a beginner's project? Well, here they are. I actually finished them in November, but I've been so embarrassed by the the misplacement of the buttons that I intentionally neglected to post a picture of the final product. I think my sewing teacher would have given me at least a B- on this project. At least the seams won't tear apart if you tug on them!

Maybe There's Hope

2011-01-04T08:22:00.001-08:00

Poor Spongebob...he didn't stand a chance against a two year old boy!
I heard some rustlings coming from the bathroom and found Taj naked, diaper and pajamas on the floor with the step stool pushed up to the toilet and the potty seat in place. I'm thinking he gets the general idea. Now hopefully he will actually go potty one of these days instead of just sending his toys for a dunk!

Sunbeams

2011-01-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

I'm going to miss these little people! They were my little rays of sunshine bright and early every Sunday morning:)

New Year, New Bed

2011-01-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

This is not your average New Year's post. I haven't even verbalized my goals for the year, let alone write them down! Yesterday, or should I say last night, was a momentous event. The fact that Taj is no longer a baby was solidified when the crib was taken down and replaced with a big boy bed. I have to tell you that I was sure I would get no sleep last night because I thought the little monkey wouldn't stay in his bed. He didn't stay in his bed for the first three hours after I put him down, but lucky for us his is the only door in the house that he can't open yet. So, after tucking him in for the last time at about 12:30 I didn't wake up until I heard a little knock on his bedroom door at about 9:00 this morning.

Nap time is proving to be a little harder to manage seeing as I keep hearing a knock on the door and keep entering to find him riding his little Red Flyer trike around the room with his blanket stuffed in the back of it. He is so excited to have a big boy bed now and can't hardly lay in it without kicking his legs and giggling. This may turn out to be a big year for us. I mean we conquered the big boy bed on the first day of the year! I'll try potty training next. I'm hoping it doesn't take more than a week....yeah right! You know what? There's my New Year's resolution! Have Taj potty trained by next year!

I guess it's time....

2010-12-29T21:49:00.001-08:00

Taj's favorite Christmas present was my mom's present. I don't know, but I think Taj may be just a little bit like his dad.

This is Taj demonstrating the proper technique for lip gloss application: swipe from one end of your face to the other and repeat the words "mmmm, priddy!"

A little up the nose always helps too.

There you have it: five dollars worth of cherry flavored lip gloss properly applied by a two year old.

Everybody needs that classic picture with grandpa right? Especially when grandpa is wearing a t-shirt that says, "Old Fart." That way no one will be confused as to whether or not it is actually grandpa in the photo.

My lovely sister modeling the latest in Snuggie blanket wear. Aren't you all jealous?

This is sheer genius, is it not? This says Cake Boss all over it...although one should never try to eat a gingerbread house or the candy that comes with it. I'm pretty sure I chipped my tooth trying to eat one of those little round candies.

Only Marci and Easton were brave enough to attempt to out-do my decorating skills. It's a messy, dirty business I tell you!

ripping off the wrapping paper was a lot more fun than seeing what was inside

Everyone made their own "hand made" stocking this year, super fun Christmas family activity!

I could easily get 50 cents a piece for these...they're brilliant and they only took me like two hours and 20 hot glue burns to make!

I love this picture. Taj's little friend is on the look out for hot girls and Taj is already giving me that teenage smirk!

So I suppose it's finally time that I do the traditional "Christmas" post. I always procrastinate posting big events: holidays, birthdays, milestones achieved, etc. For some reason I feel like it's an assignent and if I don't post a certain amount of pictures with at least 1000 words that I won't get full credit. I still have nightmares about college. It's always the same dream: I've signed up for too many classes and I find out in the middle of the semester that I've been forgetting to show up to the most important one and then I proceed to beg the professor for extra credit work to make up for the lost time. Dreams like that are horrific for those who tend to be perfectionists or for those who may or may not have a nervous disorder (take a look at my nails if you ever see me).

Christmas this year was grand. In fact, it is my opinion that everyone in my family was beyond spoiled, especially my little two year old. I honestly think that after opening all those presents, Taj liked playing in the leftover boxes the most. Go figure that! All a child really needs is a good imagination and whatever happens to be lying around at the moment. This year I tried to focus more on what Christmas is really about instead of making presents the big focus. I really did have a lot more fun giving to others this year. For once I didn't feel sad Christmas morning when all the presents were opened because I finally understand that what makes Christmas is spending time with loved ones and bringing joy to those in need. Christmas is sooo commercial now, don't you think? It's become too stressful! I think the biggest thing we can do to honor Jesus's birth is to give the gift of service and love and to spend time with those who matter most in our lives. I had a wonderful Christmas this year! I am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends. I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and got to spend time with your families!

Invisible Splinter

2010-12-27T12:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, I know this is slightly weird and even more random, but do you ever feel like you have a splinter in your pant leg? Like today I put on my favorite pair of jeans complete with a new blouse and new shoes from Christmas and I was feeling pretty good until a sharp prick nearly put me out of my misery. What makes this worse is that whatever is poking me is on the inside of my upper thigh, not exactly a place you can pull a splinter from in public if you know what I mean. I think I spent nearly an hour in my room squinting at the inside of my pants trying desperately to find the said splinter....still no luck. So if you ever see me hobbling with one stiff leg doing the turkey trot with a grimace on my face, you'll know that the invisible splinter is attacking the inside of my leg while I try to remain stoic and poised for the public eye. "Why not just wear a different pair of jeans?" you say? Well if I didn't wear this particular pair of jeans with this particular blouse and pair of shoes, the entire concept of my outfit that I want others besides myself to perceive would be dashed and I'd probably end up on TLC's What Not to Wear. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but this pair of jeans is the only pair that doesn't give me a wedgie because they're too tight. The invisible splinter may have won this time, but next time the tweezers are coming out and I WILL be victorious!

Randoms

2010-12-14T20:43:00.001-08:00

Taj hard at work erasing daddy's elaborate spreadsheets. Looks like hard work...he had to break out the chocolate!

Have you ever tried even wearing two pairs of glasses at the same time? I have and I can't manage looking down without having one pair flop down on my teeth. This takes skill. It's true talent I tell you!

Temple Square

2010-12-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

These are all the pictures we took at Temple Square before we got hit by the firetruck. If you're looking for a nice family home evening activity, this is it (looking at the lights, not getting hit by a truck). If you get the chance, I would definitely check out the lights this year!