Adventures in 2009, Resolutions for 2010.

So my resolutions for 2009 were:
1. Run 1 mile straight. Accomplished? NO. Not even close. :(

2. Change my sugar intake, meal portions...drink more water. Accomplished? Partly, I got better about eating less sugar, my meal portions are a tiny bit smaller but can still be improved drastically. And I do drink more water...but still not enough.

3. Get my home organized and keep it clean more often then not. Accomplished? Partly again. I finally got everything unpacked and storage put up in the attic... but my room still needs lots of work being organized. I think part of that is I get it organized, then think of a better way to do it... it's a never ending cycle. I got really really good at cleaning the house. I had a system and everything. But then I got addicted to Left 4 Dead and I got worse. I still kept it cleaner then I ever have, but need to keep up with my system. My system being, wake up and clean until around 10. Do the dishes, sweep/wash floors, counters etc. Clean and vacuum the living room, dining room and office, clean the kids rooms my room and the bathrooms, put a load of laundry in the washer, move washer to the dryer and fold the clothes in the dryer. Start dinner and then don't worry about the house the rest of the day. Just play with the kids and relax. Next day repeat. This works awesomely...unless you go to bed at 1 a.m.

I gave up the gaming finally, but sleep schedule is still pretty wacked.

4. Finish reading the Book of Mormon. Begin reading the New Testiment. Accomplished? Partly, lol. I did finish reading the Book of Mormon. Now I've been slacking on Scripture study :(

5. Start a vegetable garden. Better maintain my yard. Accomplished? Yes. Finally something!

6. Paint the rooms in the house. Accomplished? Uhhhh. Well I painted the guest room before my brother moved in. And I painted the hallway. Yes the hallway...but it needs a second coat. Painting is harder work then I expected...and kind of expensive.

7. Finish my artwork for the house. Accomplished? Did I forget that I have young children or something with these goals? And now I'm getting a little depressed that a year has passed... Well I did one painting and I worked on the large one that still needs lots of work.

8. Do my vector illustrations for istock. Accomplished. No. Not even close, not even started.

9. Practice greater patience. Accomplished? A little, I've gotten better, but I still have moments that I am disappointed in myself with my reactions.

10. Keep loving my family everyday, every moment. Accomplished? Well I always love them. Do I always show it? Not nearly enough.

2009 Recap:

David: He got a midyear raise that we were not expecting but greatly appreciated. Why did he get one? Because he is freakin' awesome. Hard worker and very smart. Worked so hard this year working weekends. It was hard to have such little time with the family, but a good career move. His company has acknowledged his efforts and rewarded them. He is part of a wonderful opportunity for his career and our family that is still hush hush. He also got promoted to Lead Technical Consultant. He is now 1 of 3! This is a very big deal and involved another raise, it also takes the cap off of his salary and opens him up to other bonuses throughout the year. One of the other leads is his brother too, but he's been in that position for a while and the top of the leads. The Hall boys know how to make a name for themselves.

Diana: Took care of the kids. Lol. Yeah, that's it. Well I also quit the Company I helped start with my friend... talk about go getter! I just couldn't keep up. I think being a stay at home mom, taking care of the kids and house is very involved and I don't know how other moms do both! I have tons, I mean TONS of projects I'm working on of course. Most of these projects involve the kids or are for the kids. The rest are for the house. I bought my domain for scribblerart.com but have not set it up yet. It's okay, I bought it for five years :) Hopefully I'll have a better report next year.

Liam: Started to learn to read! He sounds out words and knows tons of sight words. He helps me read his books at night. He also writes words and especially writes his name all over the place. Earlier in the year he had learned to sign the whole alphabet...and when I sign words to him using the ASL alphabet, he sounds it out as I go and knows what word I am spelling. I had video of him signing, but it accidentally got deleted. We'll get one of him soon. It's very cute. He also learned to pedal his bike.

Violet: Learned to crawl and walk in 2009! Also started to talk... I can probably list here all the words she says: Mommy, daddy, Liam, Bria, apple, bottle, binky, bubble, socks and shoes, baby doll, tiger, cat, bird, up, down, on, off, ball, cold, hot, more, thank you, NO, car, ABC, outside, tata (David's mom), boo (David's dad), diaper, flower, diaper change, clean up... okay that's all I can think of... there are a few more though. She loves playing with cars, and she loves playing with dolls. She takes really good care of her babies and feeds them milk while saying "num num num". Loves being outside. She's very sweet and says "dank do" often. She especially loves to be understood (who doesn't right?). If she is telling you something and you come through, she almost sighs relief and then says "dank do". She is quite the princess around here though and gets her way a little too often probably.

As a family: We bought a family sized car in March. David and I went on a much needed vacation to Disney World in October to celebrate our 5 years of marriage. We've taken more trips as a family...not unusal for lots of families but David and I are quite the homebodies...so this is a big deal for us. Me and some other ladies also did a 'school' time thing for our kids once a week. That was lots of fun. And as I mentioned before my brother Connor and his daughter Bria moved in with us temporarily. It's been great getting to know my younger brother and my niece Bria better. He is very easy to live with but I know he is anxious to have a home of his own for his daughter.

We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings in our lives in 2009 and always.

2010 Resolutions.
1) Lose at least 15 lbs by May...but hopefully more like 25. How to accomplish? David, Connor and I have started a workout program called P90X. So far, so great :) I've also been following the suggested diet for best results. It's not bad at all, I am actually enjoying it...I think when you work out that hard, all food tastes really good. And it's easy to stay away from the bad stuff because you don't want to ruin all your hard work! But it's only been 6 days (we started before the new year)...then again it's only for 90 days. Hopefully by then it will be a routine.

2) Start trying for baby number 3 in May...hope to get pregnant in May so I can have my baby in February, but I'll take whatever month I can get :). Don't need to explain how to accomplish this. It is also very motivating for me to lose weight for this purpose. I'd also like to resolve to not tell anybody until I'm 15 weeks along. I just want to see if I can keep news that exciting to myself for a little bit. It probably doesn't help to tell everyone we want another one though...and when we plan on trying for the baby. I might get asked and then I won't be able to lie!

3) Finish painting both hallways, Liam's room and Violet's room. Needs to be done before I get pregnant...if we are so blessed. Accomplish this by finishing coat number 2 next weekend. Tape up and paint 2nd hallway by the end of January. Middle of February tape up and paint Liam's room. Middle of March tape up and paint Violet's room. IF I do this, then I also want to paint the Dining room...it has markers all over the walls.

4) Read New Testiment. Accomplish by reading a few chapters a night before bed.

That's all. I have lots of projects like I said, but these are the most important to me right now. Yay 2010!

Christmas Time 2009!

Had a wonderful Christmas. I volunteered about two days before Christmas Eve to have David's family come to our house for dinner...provided others brought food too so I wouldn't have to go to the grocery store again. We had over 20 people here but I think it turned out great. I slow cooked a roast for about 13 hours. I baked two loaves of bread (I buy the dough frozen from Krogers, defroast, rise and bake. It tastes homemade). I also made layered enchiladas, a salad with real bacon, croutons and almond slices, and we had about 4 bottles of sparkling juice, plus cokes, ginger ale and water. David's sister cooked a turkey. A friend of hers made Tamales. Cousin of David's made two quiches and two pecan pies. David's mom made candied sweet potatoes and yellow rice. It was quite a feast.

Christmas morning I woke up at 4 a.m.! I was sooo excited this year because this is the first year that Liam has a concept of what is going on. Well it's also the first year we had a Christmas tree and lights and lots of Nativities...two that you can play with. We talked a lot about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Even still, thanks to all the hype on t.v. Liam picked up the concept of Santa really quickly. He came to me one afternoon and said "Mommy, we are going to go to sleep and Santa is going to come at midnight and leave us presents and when we wake up we are going to see toys!" Oh well, I guess that's the fun part when you are a kid.

On Christmas morning, I couldn't help but feel like a kid again too. Liam finally woke up at 6. He saw the castle that we made and his face just lit up. His eyes were round, and his mouth hung open. After an hour I ran to get David. Told him he was missing out! 15 minutes later Violet woke up. She didn't want to go into the castle at first. But after a while, she too became enchanted with it.

We (meaning me) started getting very antsy waiting for my brother Connor and his daughter Bria to wake up... they are living with us for a short time while my brother pays off some debt and saves for a house and possibly a car with a/c. David thought we should wait for them. I did too at first. But then got too impatient waiting... I mean I had been up since 4! So finally around 8 I tell Liam he can open two gifts. I happened to choose the gifts my sister Lorraine had sent. I didn't know what they were. They were musical instruments. And they were very instrumental in waking up Connor and Bria...ahha I know, I know... I'm hilarious.

It was a very fun morning. Liam and Violet would open a gift, play with it for at least 15 minutes, sometimes longer... Then Liam would come up to me and say smiling "Is there another present for me mommy?" eyeing his little pile of gifts.

We went to my parents house for our traditional Christmas breakfast. Had a great time visiting with family and seeing my sisters Kileen and Maureen. We also had our first 'annual' gingerbread house contest. I got second place...but not because mine was second best, only because of the way votes worked out. My mom and Maureen's house won. Mine...well I worked on it at 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on the 23rd... 2 a.m. because I had been in the garage painting the castle. Hopefully I'll do a better job next year.

Then we headed down to David's brother's house for Christmas dinner. I was exhausted and though enjoyed being with his family, waking up at 4 a.m. plus like 3 hours of sleep a night for 4-5 days in a row... well, I kept falling asleep on the couch.

And the Sandcastle that I had bought in September and looked forward to putting together everyday in October... We didn't get it together in time for Christmas, it was too rainy outside. But I put it together on the 27th (Connor helped) and Liam loves it. Violet has been too sick to go outside to play in it. And the real, non-chemically treated, non-dust filled sand I bought that nearly gave David a heart attack when he learned the cost of it (thanks to shipping)... well even he couldn't deny it is beautiful sand. Connor, who thought it was ridiculous to buy it also, after seeing it, he actually suggested that I buy another box to refill it as the sand gets low. Boy did I feel better about buying it.

Still need to download pictures. I am so lazy with pictures.

The Castle

I know, for those who have facebook, I am repeating myself. My brother Connor and I spent about ten hours each building this for the kids for Christmas. It still needs some paint detailing, and the inside needs more work too... but for now, we'll just see how it holds up.

Yes, we could have just bought them a play house... but every time I make something for the kids, or anybody for that matter, I think of this saying:

What printing presses yield we think good store / But what is writ by hand we reverence more.

- John Donne

I apply this thought to anything handmade.

Lately

I try to clean up the house. Violet says 'mommy, mommy, up, up' Liam says 'let me do it, I wanna help'...but not really, because then it's 'I'm too tired to do that'.
So I stop to play with them. Violet takes what I try to play with her. Liam says 'no, I want to play with that'...pick up something else...repeat.
SO then I grab a pen and paper to make a list of things I need to get done when they are asleep tonight. Violet sits on my lap and takes the pen saying 'dank do' and starts drawing. Liam says 'I want a pen and piece of paper'.
THEN I give up. I just sit there. Doing nothing, but the occasional policing. That seems to satisfy them the most. What I do for my children.

Recipe Testing #1

Thanksgiving will be here this year and I will be cooking for over 20 people...including babies.

SO I've been thinking and planning the menu and what can I make a day or two ahead of time that will taste yummy and fresh reheated on Thanksgiving day.

1st Test. Mashed potatoes. I tried a 'make-ahead' mashed potatoes recipe. They were pretty good the first night. It's been two days and I reheated them for myself and the babies...including my niece Bria who is about a month younger then Violet. They tasted even better today! For Thanksgiving these will be reheated for 3 hours in my slow cooker.

MASHED POTATOES: Make-ahead one to two days. CHECK.

So Cute!

My kids are that is. Violet started saying 'dank do' and gets very excited when you say 'you're welcome' right back... or if she hands me something and I say 'thank you', she smiles, shrugs a little and walks away. David always asks me why I wasn't video taping 'this'...'this' being anything Violet does that is cute.

Today Liam wanted to eat dinner in the backyard and then play a little. He's actually getting better at staying clean! He also took my hand and gave me a tour of our backyard. He said "mommy, I want to show you something"...taking my hand he called me his best friend and showed me some wild flowers in the grass... then he took me to one of the areas of dirt he digs in and says 'this is Liam's dirt', then he took me to my garden area and said 'this is your dirt mommy'.

He also found a bug. He said 'let's squish it' (oops) and I said 'oh no, this is the bugs home outside, we only squish it if it comes into our home inside', Liam responded with 'oh yeah, he just wants to play'...then he tried to feed it a french fry. It was a moth that was walking in a circle over and over and over. It looked like it was about to die.

Checked Off

Done.
#'s 4, 6, 22
ALMOST done.
#'s 1, 2
Started.
#'s 3, 11, 23

Not a lot and # 5... I may have to quit :( this makes me really sad because I don't want to let my friend down. I just don't have the same drive, energy, time or talent as my partner...she'd be better off without me and I will be able to focus on # 10, 7 and 8...something I really enjoy. I have this wonderful opportunity in my life to do something I LOVE because David works so hard to support my staying at home with our children...so why would I instead put time towards something I'm just not passionate about? The math just doesn't add up!

A List of Things to Tick Off.

I have so many things to share, about our vacation, updates on the kids, funny things they do and say... but sitting down to write it out, well all I can think about is how long it will take me and the things I might forget...meanwhile I remember them less and less... plus I should be using this time to get the other things off of my plate.

I am starting to feel overwhelmed again (not hard to do, which is why I couldn't hack it as a waitress for more then nine months). I think about the things I need to get done all day and stress about it all NIGHT, I need to write it out and get the list off of my mind. The reason I stress out is with two young children and a house to maintain, never ending laundry, yard work and always cleaning... I barely get one thing checked off before two more things make their way to the list. I am not special, this happens to just about everyone of us... my point is, I just need to write this list out.

I make my list here, more for me then anyone else...no particular order.

1. Finish making the kids Halloween Costumes.
2. Family Home Evening lesson #2.
3. Phone calls: Kileen, Deanna, Laura, Ines, a Plumber.
4. 'home/pre' school lesson on Wednesday, make feathers for turkey cards, outline for lesson/activity.
5. Dones Design (me and my friend Nubia's design company fyi), rewrite work contract for Napolis, and work on their stuff and our website.
6. email Rachel, I missed her house warming. :(
7. FINISH illustration #1 (of 17?)for Janice already! (It's almost done, I just need to finish it!).
8. Work on the other 16 illustrations, finish before Christmas.
9. November 'home/pre' school lesson.
10. Design Scribblerart.com website (my art website).
11. buy baby gift for Nubia's babyshower... maybe crochet a blanket too...maybe.
12. prepare for Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year, yay!
13. write blog posts about kids, vacation etc.
14. Christmas shopping for nieces and nephews.
15. paint the hallway...buy that paint with primer already in it this time.
16. finish tree/seasons page for the activity book I'm making for the kids and move on to the next page idea.
17. Plant my Fall garden.
18. Finish filling my garden box and plant herbs or whatever will grow in there.
19. Plant and hang ivy... and buy a bigger planter for my Jasmine.
20. Create a design then glue mosaic tiles to my outdoor table.
21. Need new cell phones.
22. Clean and Organize my bedroom! Gosh we've been here for a year and a half already.
23. Put a 72 hour kit together for my family.
24. Start a food storage supply for my family.

and of course the usual daily; clean house, laundry, cook, love, teach and play with my children.

And to make myself feel better...here is one thing that was on my list today that I finished: Felt pieces of things I am thankful for, for home/pre school lesson (CHECK)

From the recent Relief Society Broadcast

I love this list... it rings true for my life, and for that I am so grateful. These are ways being a member of the Relief Society, one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world, has helped me in my life.

"* Relief Society reassures me that Heavenly Father loves me because I am His daughter.
* It reminds me that Heavenly Father has blessed me with talents and gifts.
* I learn that temple covenants are essential for me and my family.
* I learn to find joy in motherhood.
* Relief Society lessons and activities help me learn the skills needed to be a good mother.
* I recognize my responsibility to influence the rising generation for good.
* Relief Society helps me be a better wife, to honor and respect my husband.
* I am encouraged to seek learning and personal growth.
* I learn and practice basic principles of self-reliance in meetings and activities.
* I experience joy in service through visiting teaching and compassionate service.
* I discover gifts that I didn’t know I had.
* Relief Society provides me opportunities to use my talents.
* I learn that I can lift and encourage others.
* I learn that we all have something to share: love, kindness, smiles, sympathy, and more.
* I develop genuine concern for others.
* I learn to be a better neighbor and treat others with kindness.
* I learn resourcefulness and determination of purpose.
* I know that all of my Father’s blessings will be mine if I stay faithful and true to my covenants."

Miss These

These are the only jelly filled donuts I'll eat because the jelly tastes good and it's not gobs of it...it's a nice thin layer inside. I haven't had one since I was 14 because I can't find them in Texas!

Found This Inspiring.

Have some new projects going on in my life, creativity wise, and have been feeling paralyzed by fear of failure. So much so that I even prayed to know if it was even important for me to do these things that have come my way. It's been so long since I've designed, I was feeling 'what's the point in this skill for me anyway' type attitude. Mad at myself for letting my knowledge get so rusty. All these things, then a friend of mine posted this video on her blog...it both changed my perspective and answered my prayer.

Violets Growing

Today Liam fell asleep on the couch and I had some time to spend with my beautiful daughter. We went to her room and I started stacking some peek-a-boo blocks. Usually she will just knock them down but today she helped me stack. Then she grabbed several blocks and started to stack them on her own! This was the first time she's done this. She grabbed the W block that has a watermelon and loose seeds inside, when she heard the rattle of the seeds, she looked at the block and became very curious about what was inside. She started to pick up the other blocks to explore their contents. I always tried to get Liam to see inside, but he was always more interested in the letter on the outside of the block, so it was fun to see her reaction to the treasure inside each one.

After blocks we journeyed to the dining room where she found a red ball. I asked her to throw it to me, she did, and so began a game of 'catch and throw'. She started dancing by way of wiggling her body and alternating between rounding her shoulders and straighting them, she seemed so happy to have play time with just me. I love how she plays and how different her approach to toys usually is then her brother. Because I got to spend some one on one with her, she made some new advances that she has been waiting to do it seems.

Earlier today she picked up a small toy truck and started driving it along the coffee table. And this morning she found a small playmobil boy and hugged it. Right now, no thanks to the late naps, she is chasing Liam around the house and they are both laughing.

My Sweet Boy

I mentioned on facebook not too long ago, how one night I couldn't take any more whining or fussing after dealing with it all day as both kids were not feeling well... I reacted quite dramatically. I was trying to do Liam's bedtime routine and was singing a song to him to which he frowned and said "eeehehehhhhhargggh" then pointing and saying "eh eh eh eh eh". Not using words but grunts, groans and whines.

I wanted to avoid snapping at him so instead I began jumping up and down and pulling at my hair like a fool. When I collapsed on his bed. Then covered my hands over my eyes and said aloud "oh my gosh, you are going to grow up thinking your mommy is crazy". Liam responded so calmly and so sweetly "you're not crazy, you're just mommy". I smiled and kissed him and thanked him. After that we both got through the routine calmly.

Then yesterday... I had woken up at 8:06 a.m. The babies wake up at 6:30 a.m. everyday. I awoke to Liam kicking his door saying "mommy, mommy, mommy", while Violet was crying her little heart out. I have no idea how long they had been doing this. I felt so bad! I was sick and couldn't sleep the night before, everytime I laid down I would get a tickle in my throat that would make me cough until I would almost vomit (a side effect to throwing up while pregnant...senstive gag reflex) or the minute I fell asleep I would awake to my eyes watering and running down my face. So I had stayed up until 3 a.m. Until I was so exhausted that no tickle in my throat or watering eyes could wake me up.

When David leaves for work, he gives me a kiss. I get up and shower, then lay on the couch until the kids wake up, at around 6:30 like I said. But I was so tired that I barely remember David kissing me goodbye and I promptly fell back asleep.

I opened their doors and just start apologizing. "Oh you guys I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you!" and I felt so bad I kept saying it. After the third time Liam says "Mommy it's okay! We're fine! Don't worry about it!". Wow. That sentence from my nearly three year old was so wonderful to hear. He is so thoughtful.

Liam also thanks me all the time! I help him with the littlest thing and he says "oh mommy, thank you!" or "oh mommy, thank you for playing with me"...or some such sentence. He is so appreciative, I love him so.

Christmas Shopping!

I have been researching sandboxes for about a year now. My kids love playing outside in the backyard but there isn't a whole lot to do out there. They'll help me garden, but in the Summer I don't feel like gardening. I don't want to invest a whole lot into a swing/slide area because
A) The good ones are expensive
B) Kids don't like them after a few years = not worth it.

So they will probably get sick of a sandbox after a few years too...but at least I won't lose as much mula...and it won't be as hard to get rid of.

What finally convinced me is the last few days when the kids go outside, they sit in the dirt...which has mulch and crap in it, and dig and roll around in it and eat it.

I found a site about how to take care of a sandbox, what is safe etc. I feel prepared. I have a cover for it, I purchased the expensive real sand that is cleaned but isn't chemically treated and clearly states that is safe for sandboxes. I plan on raking it before playtime to check if an animal has slipped past the cover and used it as a toilet.

This is the sandbox I bought. So cute isn't it? The front part holds the toys and crap...and I love the sun shade.

Now where to put it... I was going to put it by the side of the garage in the backyard, it would be perfect, but then I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them. So for now (well in December) it will have to be where I can see them from the kitchen.

Adventures This Morning...

5:30 wake-up cries for mommy. Food flung. Hair pulled. Snotty/stuffy/sneezy nose. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Washing kitchen floor. Smell of vinegar. Baby slips and slips and slips and slips. Poopy diaper on floor...poop on floor...pee on floor...Outside...BEAUTIFUL DAY!. Dirt flung. Door open, close, open, close, open, close, open!!!! Fall off step head first. Crying. Up, down, up down. Door close, OPEN!!!! Dirt in mouth. Track in dirt. Bath time. Water flung. Hysterical laughing and splashing. Vacuum. Put toys away. Baby nap time. Boy t.v. time. Mommy rest time. Next...grocery shopping (out of milk).

Phew

For the month of July our electric bill was nearly $400. We like to keep it 74-75 degrees around here...but that was just too much. So I decided that we could get used to 77 degrees and to see how much a difference that would make in our bill. So since then we have kept the house at the temp. of 77 degrees and our bill went down to $237. Much better.

My Quiet Garden

I found this really cool Garden pillow online you can harvest the fruit and veggies... and I was excited to find this because in our little once a week preschool thing I do with three other moms, it was my turn to teach and this months theme is plants. I was teaching about Fruits and Vegetables. I thought, oh I am going to make that someday, but didn't think to apply it to my lesson yet... Until I read Quiet in the Garden by Aliki. At the end of the book it mentions how to make your own quiet garden (a real one)...and I thought of Quiet books that we might make/bring for our children to play with in Church...and how I'd like to make a Felt quiet book someday...then suddenly all these thoughts came together and I decided to have the 'kids' aka moms...make our own quiet felt gardens!

I'm not a talented sewer person (yet) so making the fruits and veggies as well as the ones in the pillow wasn't an option. I also thought it would be cute if the kids can hang this quiet garden in their rooms. So it's more like a garden flag...works better with flatter fruits and veggies. Also it has one orange carrot, three green snap peas, and two red strawberries...see what I did there? The peas, I really wanted to sew on snaps, but somehow the snaps I thought I bought, weren't in the bag...I think Liam threw them out of the cart. So I used velcro. But snaps would have been better. Here is a video of the cut out materials and then the finished product. I wanted pictures, but again, my camera isn't working.

Cleaning Life Cycle.

7 days in a week. This doesn't include the moments I spend to cook food.

1. Spend Monday cleaning for preschool on Tuesday. Take "breaks" to help babies find things to do, feed them and go grocery shopping.

2. Tuesday no cleaning...need a break. Preschool in the morning to afternoon, then kids nap and I get on facebook or read or nap. The house is now on it's way to messy again.

3. Wednesday, spend time with kids and do the dishes, but the kitchen floor and table already have food all over them...living room has cereal and cracker crumbs plus a ton of toys.

4. Thursday, gather trash to take out. Spend kid time, a load of dishes, laundry, sweep the floor.

5. Friday pick up living room enough to vacuum, wipe counters down, fold laundry...still it's not enough cleaning and the house is a mess...might leave the dishes. Everytime I stop to clean, kids go crazy without my attention and make a mess elsewhere.

6. Saturday, attempt to really clean, but again, I clean something, turn around and the babies have made a mess, they want my full attention. I try to do a family activity if David is home (he's been working Saturdays all month).

7. Sunday. Day of rest... meanwhile the messy house gets worse...hence the cleaning all day and night on Monday.

Adventures at the HMNS

Back on Thursday, July 23rd, David's client gave us tickets to participate in a night at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They shut the place down to the public and let their company come for a family night. We decided to take Liam with us, but left Violet with Tata overnight. We went and had dinner at the mall where we enjoyed some Chick-fi-la... I tried to have a gyro but the meat wasn't good.

The Museum was so cool. They had cotton candy machines, popcorn, chips, candy bars, cupcakes and drinks set up all over, even in the dinosaur area with tables and chairs to sit down if you wished. We had to get in line for the 3D Imax right when we got there. So while we waited in line we let Liam have some cotton candy. He wasn't sure he wanted to try it, but once he hesitantly did, he was in love and had the biggest smile on his face.

Liam was too cute in the 3D movie. It was about Sharks but not at all scary. He kept grabbing for the fish and when they would show a shark he would yell "A SHARK!".

Then, because I love museums, David and Liam indulged me and we ran through to look at the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit, the Ghengis Khan exhibit, and the dinosaurs of course. Then we let Liam munch on some popcorn, while we had cokes and water. It was so much fun.

I kind of ruined the evening for David though :( All he remembers is me in a bad mood. But I wasn't...only in the car when he kept missing turns even though we have a GPS... I need to work on my car riding manners and learn to relax when we miss a turn.

Here is a short dark video of Liam in the 3D Imax with his glasses on before the show started...

Violet Learned to Walk!

Adventures in the Pool

Liam Update: 2 Years, 8 Months

So Liam had quit going to the potty in the potty chair. He just didn't have time to stop. BUT yesterday I sat him down and walked him through using the potty whenever he needs to. He can open the door, he knows how to take off his pullup and he knows how to sit on the potty. I was in the kitchen doing the dishes, when I hear the toilet flush. Assuming he is throwing things down there to flush, I run to the bathroom... He is just getting off the toilet, smearing poo-poo along the edges. He had gone poo-poo in the potty chair ALL BY HIMSELF! Before I got too excited I checked the rooms looking for the diaper he had removed...making sure poop wasn't sitting on the rug somewhere. Finally I look in the bathroom trash can. There is his diaper! So we cleaned up and I was jumping all over the place telling him how proud I was of him. He had a satisfied look on his face, but also had the attitude like it was no big deal. I gave him stickers as a reward. I am hoping that by his 3rd birthday he'll have the routine down...that leaves us with 3 more months... If it doesn't happen, it's okay. I'm sure by kindergarten he'll have it down ;)

Earlier this week Liam got sick with a cold. He has been soooo good and so sweet. Very helpful. The biggest difference is he doesn't eat ANYTHING. As long as he drinks water though and has a healthy snack to nibble from, I'm okay and he's okay.

Last week Liam wanted to play with a toy I had put away. I told him to clean his room first and showed him how to do this. He picked up SOME of his toys and he made his bed...I really didn't think he would do anything, so happy with the progress I got the toy down for him to play with.

We have had two toddler time activity days and Liam really enjoys having his little friends over. The other day we were getting out of the car, and they were waiting for us at the door (had to run to the grocery store) and Liam says "oh look, Cousins!" and I said "No, not cousins, but they are your friends" which he agreed "oh yeah, friends". When they leave he says "bye friends". It's so cute. A few days ago he asked me "friends come over to play?" and I said "no, not right now, but in a few days"...he threw a little fit at that answer.

He builds things all the time for me. With his little workshop, he'll build something and then tell me "happy birthday mommy, I made this for you". Once he said "I built you a house mommy". Very thoughtful. He has definetely increased on the number of words he can read, and he always tries to sound words out. He'll even tell me how to spell some of the words he knows. He also has counting down (at least to 10, he gets fumbled when we go higher and says eighteen a lot). If I ask him to get me three blocks, he will bring me three blocks. etc. Thanks to David, he is becoming interested in Left and Right. He also plays really well with his computer cool school. I went to Church on Sunday and he stayed home because he was sick. David put him on the computer cool school when I left. And three hours later when I came home, he was still playing on it. I know, I wouldn't let him play on the computer that long, but I wasn't in charge. We like to watch The Misadventures of Flapjack around here. And this morning when I went to see if Liam was awake, he was playing in his room and when I walked in he had a toy car and he was talking about going to see Candied Island...which is from The Misadventures of Flapjack.

I got really frustrated with him yesterday, but really it was all my fault. We were leaving to the grocery store. I am sick and just feeling like crap. I really didn't want to go at all, but we needed milk for Violet at the very least. So I got the kids and myself dressed, then went to put Liam's carseat in the car...and I left the door open to the backyard. It was raining outside and just started really pouring. I thought Liam might like to look at the rain. When I came back, he was rolling around in the rain on the wet ground...completely soaked. I got mad, even though it really was my fault, but being sick I have no patience at all...poor Liam. I had to change his clothes before we left, and I lectured him the whole time I changed his clothes. And what does Liam say "oh, Thankyou mommy". Then at the store, he was such an angel. He was so good! He sat in the back of the cart while Violet sat in front. Normally he'll stand up and occasionally throw stuff out of the cart, if I crowd him too much he'll start kicking the food. This time he sat there so good and let me crowd him with food without moving. Then when we got to the checkout, he unloaded nearly all of the groceries himself onto the conveyer belt. There was no longer any room for him to sit, so I took him out and he helped me push the cart to the car. He was so wonderful. I bought him a doughnut with sprinkles for being so good. I usually do this on grocery trips, if he isn't good, he doesn't get it. I know I know...but I look at it as a reward rather then a bribe because I don't tell him he is going to get it for being good. Only once so far he hasn't gotten one. THEN when we got home, I thought he would help me bring groceries inside (he normally does), I went to put Violet down for her nap and come out to see Liam is once again rolling in the puddles on the ground. What a little boy. I love him.

Violet Update: 1 Year 1 Month

Violet is starting to take steps. Very unsteady and unsure steps. She mainly hangs on, but she tries hard! She gets a little too eager and excited at times as well, especially when she is walking to daddy then to mommy, she barely gets a step in before she's trying to turn around and go back to the other, she usually throws her arms forward and falls into one of our arms then turns around to do the same.

She started saying buh-bye and waving her hands. She points to everything and wants me to tell her what it is. She imitates sounds and hand movements. She gives me BIG wet baby kisses with the sound "muuh" for each one. Her and Liam chase each other around the house just cracking up laughing, her by crawling and Liam by running slowly. When I put on music she dances along and smiles. David and I often hear her in her room using the mic from her keyboard and singing into it while playing one of the prerecorded keyboard songs.

When I am cooking she wants up so she can see what I'm doing. There are moments where she literally wants up and then down then up and then down...can't seem to make up her mind...maybe she's just testing me. This past month, oh my goodness... she has started frowning. She frowns all the time. From smiling all the time to always with a little frown on her face. It is, naturally, the cutest freakin' frown you've ever seen ever. Maybe she is just thinking about stuff, in deep concentration. I wish I could get a picture of it!

That's all folks. Love you Bioletta!

Let's Clear Some Things Up About SAHM's

I don't know of any stay-at-home-mom's (sahm) who play with blocks or trucks or whatever one toy you can think of for 5 hours straight. Not One. Yet every time I hear a working mom who isn't working out of necessity (not all, but this happens quite often) give her reasons for not staying at home is that they can't play blocks for 5 hours straight but they have so much "respect" for sahm's who do. That they need adult interaction. That if they played blocks for 5 hours straight, they would bang their head against the wall. And the reason I got all fired up about this, is once again, here it is about halfway or sooner through, that stigma on momversation.com.

Who wouldn't bang their head against a wall? Even a child would after playing blocks for 5 hours straight.

So please, it's actually disrespectful to clump ALL the lessons and activities that us SAHM's do all day down to having the patience and no brains apparently, to sit and play blocks all day.

So to educate those who really believe that playing anything for 5 hours straight is what I do as a SAHM, here's a list of things I do with my two young (block age) children, all out of order and I've no doubt left off a million things...but you get the gist. I don't do these all in one day, but pick more then a handful and you've got my day.

Gardening
Yard work
Soccor
ABC's
123's
correcting speech
Story Time
Singing Time
Dancing Time
Cleaning: toys, dishes, sweeping, dusting, 'folding' laundry, making beds
Memory games
Farm Animal games
Puppets
pretending
coloring
playdough
painting
Signing Time
School
Racing
exercise
making airplanes
making forts
learning about worms, frogs, flowers etc...
Cuddling throughout the day
Boo-boos and kisses
sharing
bugs
Learning senses; smell, touch, see, taste, sounds.
cooking and baking
answering questions about everything
tumbling
computer lessons
science experiments
etc...

Blocks, maybe every other day for about 20 minutes. I actually feel so sorry for kids who's mothers think this is the only activity they are capable of.

This list doesn't even include the obvious. Feeding, napping, bathing.

I also hear the "well anyone can wipe their nose, it only matters if you are at home with them when they are teenagers".

Do you think that by the time they are teenagers they are going to trust and listen to you in the same way as they trust and listen to a mom who has ALWAYS been there with them?

Just stop putting SAHM's down. Children are beautiful, imaginative and creative. Teaching them reteaches you so many things. Kindness, respect, honesty, love etc. It's a WONDERFUL experience and shouldn't be put down in the least.

Liam Update: 2 Years, 8 Months

A week late, sorry Liam. So we have been working on potty training. After the first two days of intensive training... things took off. We were using a potty chart and Liam got so excited at the end of the day when we could check off that he had used the potty. Then it got kind of annoying. He wanted to use the potty every 20 minutes on average. Sometimes every 5 minutes, sometimes every hour or two. I had to remind myself that this stage isn't forever and it would mean no more diapers... I had to remind myself a lot. Then it slowed down and he could hold it for longer periods of time. Still he only went poo-poo in the potty a few times...and only once because it was his idea. Then he started wetting his diaper a little before deciding he needed to go. Now he wets his diaper all the time and only uses the potty once in a while. It feels like I've gone full circle with this and it's my fault of course. I had started really finding it relaxing that he wasn't asking to use the potty all the time. Really the worse part about that is Violet has to come with us, then she tries to get in the potty, it's just another hassle I don't care to deal with. So poor Liam, his mama needs to get over it. Another part that added to the failure, is Liam got a hold of his potty chart and lost nearly all the little marker/reward magnets...so we stopped using that until I can find them or enough of them, or make new ones.

Other then that this past month has been pretty cool because Liam has started to do pretend play/imaginative play. I read that this will increase more so in the next year, but he's right on track with it. AND he's playing on his own or with Violet, he doesn't need me to be there as much as before, which is quite nice. I love when the two of them are off doing something silly and cracking each other up. Those are the sweetest moments ever.

He's finally used to Nursery, which is a two hour time period during the 3 hours of Church on Sunday. He used to freak out if I left...I mean full on, uncontrollable tantrum. He still cries when we go in, but adjusts more quickly then before and now I can go to my Sunday School class and Relief Society class and he's just having fun with the other kids. I think this is great for him because it is his only real connection to other kids during the week. They have a playtime, quick lesson, activity, snack time, singing time, reading time, sometimes another activity. I am part of a playgroup as well, they meet every Thursday but we never go because it interferes with Violet's morning nap. Once she gives up her morning nap, we'll be able to go. And a friend of mine came to me about starting a toddler time at my house on Tuesdays. I love this idea. She says she tries to take her son to the Library but it's just chaotic. So we are going to have a few moms and toddlers and have singing time, story time every time...then also we will have some sort of activity or lesson or combined activity and lesson. Maybe (for example) learning about birds while we color birds, then create 'binoculars' out of toilet paper tubes and go bird watching outside. It's great that it will be at my house because it won't interrupt Violet's nap time...and it should be great motivation to keep the house clean and organized.

Liam has also really begun to sing songs with me and on his own. Today we were blowing up a balloon then letting it go so it would fly around really crazy like. He was cracking up, then he said "thank you mommy, this is really fun" and he gave me a big hug. Then he started singing a little tune that went "dooo dooo dooo, daaa daaa daaa, dee dee dee, dooo dooo dooo, daaa daaa daaa, dee dee dee". I am pretty sure he just made that up. I know it's not as if he made up some words to a song, but I've never heard him do anything like that. It was so cute.

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to get him to play hide and go seek but it just didn't click with him. Well it has been a while though since I've tried to play that with him. Then last night he came to me and told me to hide and he'll count to 10...then it was his turn. It was so much fun, we played for about 20 minutes before I had to put an end to it. For my turn he would count to 10 at a super fast speed giving me little time to hide, I really had to book it. His turn to hide I would count very slowly giving him plenty of time. This still freaked him out and he would squeal incredibly loudly as he frantically decided where to go, usually ending up around the corner or under a blanket right in front of me...both of which he would still be laughing and squealing, and he couldn't handle the suspense of me finding him, he would immediately poke his head out and say "you found me!" and then erupt in more laughing. I look forward to more of the games we will play, and ones that he will invent.

Violet Update: 1 Year

Wow, 1 year ago today I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl! She has been such a joy to our home and definitely one of the missing pieces to our family.

For her birthday we had family over to celebrate. I cleaned all day and bought tons of lunch meats and rolls, we had chips and watermelon too. I made cupcakes. When we sang to Violet, she grabbed at the candle with her hand, extinquising the flame. This resulted in Violet screaming her head off. Then she refused to even try her cupcake. The next day I tried to give her another cupcake, nope, too many bad memories I suppose.

It was so nice seeing everyone. All who came were: Grandma, Mo, Kileen, Gerald, Aurora, Ryan, Amber, Roman, Connor, Tata, Boo, Adam, Goku, Xavier, Sister Brown, Sister Perry (Sister Missionaries in our ward currently) and of course Mommy, Daddy and Liam.

So much love and lots of gifts were given. Lots and lots of clothes from everyone, that were defintely needed. A doggy pull toy from Uncle Connor. Also a talking Elmo doll from Grandma. Mommy, Daddy and Liam got her a LittlePeople's Animal Sound Farm. She is so cute because she loves to play with it. Tata and Boo, this being their first granddaugther, bought her a pair of 18 kt white gold diamond earrings, beautiful.

Sorry no pictures yet. I have to get a hold of some from family. My camera doesn't work, and David still hasn't bought me my Christmas/Birthday present camera...I might get jipped on that. Meanwhile I am losing memories I can never get back :(

Violet is still cruising along furniture. She has also started climbing on everything. She climbs on the couch and then promptly falls off...over and over again. She loves the "Popcorn" song...really she loves any song you sing to her. She always smiles. But with the popcorn song she makes a popping motion with her hands, and "If You're Happy and You Know It" she claps along to. She LOVES to watch Curious George now. She laughs everytime she sees him and then just watches with a smile on her face, giggling now and again during the episode. She also loves to watch Signing Time with us...she loves the songs.

Violet still loves dirt and mud...unfortunately the other day she crawled into an ant pile. Her poor little legs are both covered in bites. She didn't even cry, she just kind of looked at me with this look and started itching her legs. Once she had a bath, she was fine.

She loves being chased around the house, it cracks her up to be chased then kiss attacked. David gets so sad when he comes home from work and she's already in bed. I'll tell him about the things she did that day and David gets a huge smile on his face, followed by a pout because he wants to hold her and give her kisses but she's sleeping. She loves to play and read with us, she loves Liam like crazy, we love her like crazy.

Violet Adventures

Crawling under a computer desk, hmmm,what is that? It's blue, it's round. Hmmm. It has two m's on it. Let me pop that sucker in my mouth. Well that's just delicious, almost as good as dirt.

It was the most peanut em and emmy baby breath there ever was.

One Year Ago Today

We moved into our home :)

Memorial Day

We had a lovely family day today. David and I barbecued some burgers and corn for just us on a tiny little grill. The burgers were kind of dry, we'll do better next time. Liam and Violet had leftovers from yesterday of rice and noodles and some corn from today, Violet ate tomatoes! Something Liam has yet to do.

We played outside in the sprinklers and mud...hmmm hmm Violet. Had baths, finger painting, signing time and a little walk around the block. Now kids are sleeping and mommy and daddy are playing "worthwhile" video games.

Thanks to those who've served and are serving and their families! Protecting our freedoms that we enjoy daily. Thank you.

Violet Montague

Conversations with Liam

Liam: Mommy! Mac and Cheese in my pocket! (as he points to his front shirt pocket).

Me: Oh yeah?

I look in his pocket, there is one little cheesy noodle in his pocket. He looked so proud.

Liam Update: 2 Years, 7 Months

Liam has been pretty sweet this past month. Listening AND obeying when I ask him to do something like 'pick that up and throw it away please'.

He's been swinging on my treadmill handles like a little monkey...probably because we haven't been to the park in a while, poor guy. He'll say "hey mommy, look at me" and I laugh and say "are you my little monkey?" and he says "No, I Liam". If I am doing something with Violet, let's say, taking her picture...or attempting to with my camera phone. After a while Liam will say "Liam's turn".

His sentences are expanding. The other day we were sitting on my bed, I was changing Violet's clothes and Liam climbs up and says "Oh Mommy, be careful, I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself". Probably the longest, most coherent sentences I've heard yet. It's funny though because I hear him very clearly, however, when I hear him speaking around other people and see their lack of understanding...I realize he may not speak as clearly as I think he does.

I regrettably confess since he got sick for about a week this past month, I let him watch t.v. all day during that sick week...or nearly all day. Now we have the t.v. on much more then usual. He LOVES SpongeBob SquarePants, he was pronouncing it "Ketchob Sqireants", that one took me a while to realize what he was saying...now he says it more slowly so I understand him...now he says "Spatch Ob Square Pants" much better, at least I understand the last part.

These lazy t.v. days tend to happen to me when it gets hot outside...and it's not even summer yet! So my goal is to come up with daily activities for the kids...and get the pool set up outside. We do go out once a day to water the tomatoes and flowers, trees and bushes. But we don't spend a lot of time, and today Violet turned red because she was getting overheated. I took her inside and took off her clothes and dabbed her neck and cheeks with cool water. Liam meanwhile, to cool down, layed in the puddle of water that was on the flagstone.

WE just started back with the potty training...just in the last few days. So I'll report more on that next month...bet you can hardly wait ;)

Conversations with David

ME: I love how Violet smells...even stinky Violet

David: What?

ME: I don't mean when she has a poopy diaper...I just mean if she hasn't had a bath in a few days and she is sticky and has that outside smell mixed with rotten milk in her neck. I like it, I just keep giving her kisses.

David: Hmmm, I think you just crossed some sort of threshold...yeah I probably should have bought you a mini van.

Violet Update: 11 Months

Next month my baby girl turns 1 year old! This time last year I was struggling to get the house packed to move and my Liam, who at that time was only 19 months old, was climbing on the stacked up boxes every chance he got. I was huge, waddling around, eating, crying and peeing most of the day.

Now we are here at home. Violet has learned to crawl on her knees properly, and pulls herself to stand and cruise along the furniture or me, whenever she can. She says Momma, Dadda, Baba (bottle), baby (used randomly) and dubadubaduba all day. She is also eating table foods and drinking from a sippy cup with her six adorable teeth!

She has become much more demanding this last month. Now that she is even more mobile, she is even more clingy...and I can't leave her side to go clean the house...of course, Liam is still at this phase...

She has also become much more apt to cry at the littlest thing. I'm afraid this is my fault. Liam hugs on her by completely squishing her down, or falling on her in a hug from the couch to the floor...or he tugs on her hand and twists it around when they are in the car. So any time I see this, Liam is told to stop right away. If he doesn't, if he laughs and thinks it's funny (most of the time) then he gets a time out. So if I'm not in the room and she starts crying like she's dying, If Liam is next to her, I started to automatically assume he hurt her. It just seemed reasonable. BUT then one day, I noticed he didn't do anything, he wasn't even near her and she just started crying hysterically...I think because she didn't see me... and Liam went to her to pat her head. I realized how many times I caught them at this moment and assumed he had just hurt her. Now I saw for myself that this may not always be the case. But then again today I see him kicking her in the face (lightly) because he didn't think I was watching. SO what do I do? Seriously???

Violet does something so cute, what I call the sit and spin. She just sits on the kitchen floor and uses one of her feet to spin around on her butt in a circle while she says "dubadubaduba".

She had a doctors appointment this past month too. But no shots. The doctor told me she thinks Violet is too small for her age. I wish they didn't have an average chart. Why not just figure out what's best for her? She's eating now, that always causes weight loss...she's crawling and cruising along furniture...another weight loss factor. Well I think she looks perfect. The Doctor wants me to increase her milk feedings and come back next month. Then a few days later she got sick and started eating less...she's still congested in fact. Oh well, I'll take her back at 15-18 months.

We also got her ears pierced while we were there. Poor baby, that looked like it hurt. The doctor did a very good job. They look nice and even. Violet is 1/4 Cuban so I decided to pay a tribute to that side of her with the earrings...well that's the excuse I'm using :) We are keeping it clean and turning them a few times a day...so far so good.

Sticky Adventures

OH man. When will I learn people? I am not allowed to put on make-up unless Liam is napping. All I want to do is get ready so we can go grocery shopping. I take about 15 minutes to put on make-up and do my hair...mainly because I don't do much to my hair...which is very obvious.

This is what happened the last time:



That is toothpaste everywhere if you couldn't guess.

Today I thought, oh well, there is nothing he can do that I can't clean up. Violet was in her highchair eating breakfast foods (she's feeding herself now).

I finish my make-up and I go in the kitchen. Liam has a small tupperware bowl full of a brown liquid. I approach him cautiously, so as not to cause him to fling it across the room. I get a hold of it successfully. I see and smell it is syrup. I see a small streak of it on the floor. Okay not too bad, could have been worse.

Then I look up at Violet. She is holding her own tupperware full of syrup that Liam had so generously shared with her. She had it all over her clothes and face and hair. I smelled her breath. Yes, you got it. It was the most maple-like syrupy baby breath there ever was.

Adventures in Car Buying

So yes we bought a new family car yesterday!

More Food Memories.

When I lived in California we (our family) used to always go to Bakers...which sells tacos and such, like taco bell...I guess now they also serve hamburgers...I don't remember that. I used to always get the Tostada...the only one I've found that puts sliced tomatoes on top! Yum. I miss that place.

Adventures with Violet

I hear what sounds like a plastic cup fall accompanied by the sound of a few coins tinkling on the ground. I can't think what it must be...I know it was Liam because Violet is only learning to stand and isn't tall enough to reach the counters. Sure enough Liam had found our Bigepak of eclipse spearmint gum. It was almost empty, only about 3 pieces of gum lay on the floor.

I just threw them out. I wasn't worried Liam had eaten any because he doesn't like the taste of minty things...he won't even eat grasshopper cookies. Then I see little miss Violet on the floor, I see pieces of the gum, bitten in parts and spit back on the floor. To be sure I smell her breath.

It was the most minty fresh baby breath there ever was.

Adventures with Liam

I was putting on make-up in the 'kids' bathroom when Liam makes a mad dash for the toilet. He is holding some little foam letter stickers...I don't see which ones...he lifts up the lid as I scream;

"NO LIAM NOOOO! DON'T THROW ANYTHING IN THE POTTY! ONLY PEE-PEE AND POO-POO!" after a thought I added more calmly "and a little bit of toilet paper."

Liam looks up at me a little scared. Holds up the letters close to his face so I can see, but tentatively because I scared him. Both of which are P's. He says "Pee Pee in the Potty, bye bye Pee Pee"...and he waves to the toilet. This was him showing me what he intended to do, that I indeed, had taught him.

I kept myself from laughing, but I did apologize for screaming so loud and did my best to explain the difference.

Pun-Off With David

This is completely cheesy...forgive me...his family must really be wearing off on me.

Diana: So what's a sink hole? (we were watching Quantum of Solace).

David: (he said something like this) There is a pocket of earth that was filed down from water or sediment and the top of the earth eventually caves in around it...well I think so anyway.

Diana: oh you SINK SO?

David: Haha, so that was your HOLE plan all along?

Diana: Yeah, I guess it BOTTOMED OUT

David: You could say it FELL THROUGH

Diana: It was a real SINKER.

One Year Ago Today

We bought our first home.

Got These Links From Ines's Tio Mongui

Nadya Suleman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxtgLzi-aK0&feature=related

Loosing weight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izpU4YJ0ZAA

Maxine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrA9zj94NuU&feature=related

National Anthem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE&feature=related

Saturday Storm

Yesterday it was flooding rain. We couldn't really leave the house to run all the errands I had planned for that day. These included:

• Hair cut for Liam and David (I have given up cutting Liam's hair until he is a bit older and will sit still for me)
• Grocery Shopping
• Renting a Rug Doctor and cleaning these filthy carpets of ours
• Get our oil changed in the cars
• I was gonna make a special dinner for David and I...but no Groceries...so we had left overs

We lost power for about two hours during the day. Not too bad, watching the storm with the kids was pretty entertaining. And we all napped, it was pretty relaxing. So though the day didn't go as I had planned, it was still pretty nice. Here is some footage of the storm...unfortunately I didn't get the best of it, but this was still cool...and yes, lighting makes me jump, scream and then laugh at myself. Also, in case you can't tell in the video, the water is past our sidewalk to our lawn.

Liam Update: 2 Years, 6 Months

Today, while I was distracted with buying a website domain, Liam found a butcher knife and started banging on a toy with it. I didn't know this is what he was doing of course. I get up to go check on him and as I do I hear him say "Ow, mommy!" I walk in the room and see him with the knife. I immediately think 'okay, he's hurt but he has both hands and feet, his stomach, neck and head look fine too' I gently approach him and take the knife. I ask him "where are you hurt?"...as I scan each finger to make sure they are still attached. He lifts up his leg. There is a streak of blood by his foot. He had somehow, while wielding this butcher knife, created a small cut by his ankle. Small, but it looks kinda deep. I stop the bleeding and clean it well with rubbing alcohol. I notice blood is still on the sink. I search him further. He has another cut on the back of the other leg. Oi. I clean that one, neosporin and bandage it as well. So tomorrow, I'll check it again to make sure it doesn't look infected, check for fevers and all that.

I had been cutting lettuce with it and thought it was high enough out of his reach. But that boy continues to grow and so does his reach. I know now, though I should have thought of this before... put all knives away.

Our typical day lately consists of us waking up at 6 a.m. I change diapers, put Violet in the playpen with her morning bottle. I get Liam some milk and either a bowl of cereal (Life, Cherrios, Kix or Honey Bunches with Almonds) or a cereal bar. I turn on the t.v. to PBS Kids. Then I either get the trash gathered for the garbage pickup (twice a week), do the dishes and get the kitchen cleaned (I hate doing dishes at the end of the day), or lay back on the couch and fall in and out of sleep. around 7 or so, Violet is ready to get out of the playpen and Liam is busy showing me things or asking me to play this or that. This or that consisting of "Here mommy, a rope" while he shows me a soft tape measure that he is attaching to a toy, or chair, and he says in a strained voice "Pull!". Or he wants to play with "dominoes" or "cards mommy" which is the new memory game I got to play with him. The dominoes we just set up and knock down...Violet usually ruins that one for us...but it's funny and we all laugh. Or Liam is asking me to "color MAP mommy! M, A, P..mmmmAP!"...we have been drawing/creating maps together.

I recently bought him a "responisiblity chart" from Target...it's really cute. Has magnets. I created a "Potty Chair" section with one of the blank pieces included, I also added to the chart, "sharing", "no hitting", "brushing teeth", "saying I'm Sorry", "helping out", and "no whining" (cuz he has been lately...imitating Violet's cry). OF course he's gonna whine, but it just depends on how much of it he did, whether or not he gets a magnet star or happy face or whatever next to it. If he can get the whole thing filled up, I will give him a present. On a side note, If I have a present to give Liam (like markers or paper, or something he was gonna get anyway like a book or puzzle) I say "Liam I have a present for you" and Liam always says "FOR ME?! Oh dank do".

I probably should have started the chart off with just three things. My main goal is to get him to use the potty chair. He has the concept of using the potty chair. It's a matter of convience at this point. Going potty takes away from whatever else he needs to do. And then changing his diaper, especially a poopy diaper, takes FOREVER. I try to tell him the quicker he comes to get his diaper changed, the quicker he can get back to playing. This reasoning isn't getting through. Much like when we have to go out somewhere, anywhere...even to the backyard. Liam likes to walk around the house in a t-shirt and diaper. I did not teach him this, I always put pants on him. But one day he had started taking them off. Now ANYWHERE he is comfortable, he just takes his pants off. I try to tell him 'only at home'. So if we need to get somewhere, I need to clothe him, this exhausts me just thinking about it. He always runs away, laughing. Like it's a game. I do not laugh. I wish I did. I wish I thought it was cute and funny and not get so impatient about it. Because I want him to have patience. How do you teach a virtue that you don't possess yourself? So it takes a lot of energy and effort and counting to ten to get him dressed. So even though he can hardly wait to go outside, he makes it take much longer then it should by not letting me dress him or change him.

Grocery shopping with him has been impossible lately. He acts out the most in public. He'll hit me, in the face (though I say again, I don't hit him) over and over and over and over. I get so frustrated because I don't know what to do. I will give him a time out. He laughs at me and hits me again. At home I would just put him in his room and close the door for a few minutes if he refused to go for a time out. But what do you do in the store? I really need advice on this one. Any out there?

On another note, he has his sweet moments. He'll point to himself and say "Liam" to me "Mommy" to Violet "Violet" or "baby". Then I say "Violet is your sister, but she's also your friend" and he'll say "yeah, friend" and give her a hug and kiss. (of course later on he'll be trying to close the door to her room on her). He'll kiss attack me, which I love. SOMETIMES in the store he'll say "awww Mommy HUG" then "Now Kiss!" He loves helping me cook in the kitchen, and thank Heavens, has listened to me and not touched anything hot. a few days ago he came up to me and said "Mommy! Make CUPCAKES" like it was a great idea... we had made some for Easter.

Speaking of Easter. This was the first year Liam dyed Easter eggs. And wouldn't you know I forgot the flip video :*( and the camera. My mom set it all up and he had so much fun. Easter Sunday we had Church...which he was a little wound up for (he didn't have candy, but did the day before so he didn't sleep well). I stayed with him in Nursery again, but was able to leave for about 5 minutes. My mom suggested I leave longer and longer each week.

Later, we had an Easter Egg hunt at my parents house in their backyard. My son, ran right for the fishes pond and threw his basket in the water. Which made my mom laugh at least...not my dad so much, no my dad is very good natured about my son throwing things in the pond all the time. I finally got him to 'find' an egg, then only because it was right next to it, he found another one. That was it. He was done. He pried the eggs open and started eating the candy. While his other cousins made out like bandits. He didn't even notice. Then he threw the eggs in the pond. Some candy too, which my dad scooped out immediately.

My goal now is to get that boy a proper hair cut. And I tried. Oh yes I tried. He will not sit still when one drop of hair hits his neck. Starts itching like a mad man. So hopefully soon we can go get that mop cut. Maybe go with Daddy at his next appointment. Yeah Daddy son day. I like it.

I love you Liam, you keep me on my toes.

Conversations in the Car

David: "What are people thinking with their bumper stickers? I mean what does 'Shark Attack' mean anyway?"

Me: "It probably means something, you should look it up on the Urban Dictionary" (btw, please don't bother looking it up....it's not nice).

David: "no thank you"

Me: "Well what's with the other faded stickers...what's that one? Looks like either Superman or maybe a Transfomers symbol"

David: "well it's not Superman"

Me: "why not?"

David: "because Superman isn't an upside down triangle, it's a diamond"

Me: "A diamond? It's definitely not a diamond"

David: "Yeah it is"

Me: "Okay, wanna bet?"

David: "sure"

we shake on it

David, drawing it out with his finger in the air: "see Superman's symbol does this" draws it out "like a diamond, with five points"

Me: "uh a diamond doesn't have 5 points, it's got four and looks more like a kite"

David: "I mean literally a diamond! Like the diamond shape you see on a Jewelery store window"

Me: "OH, yeah, that is the Superman shape, but when you said diamond, I was thinking the actual shape called a diamond...because seconds before you compared it to an upside down triangle...you mean pentagon"

David: "well that kind of diamond shape is still closer then triangle because it has 4 sides instead of 3, so I was still more right"

Me: "No, no, because that shape on the car, looks closer to a triangle, and look it has like 6 sides...look it looks like a pair of mens briefs"

David: "Gosh our conversations are so strange, why are we still talking about this"

Me: Laughing "I know"

Violet Update: 10 Months

"She is such a good and sweet baby! I had good babies but NEVER this good" is a phrase I often here when people meet Violet. I was a good baby too...I was a good kid. Then as I got older I got a shorter and shorter temper. I hope Violet is better able to retain her sweet temperament.

A few Sunday's ago I was asked to teach one of the Adult Sunday School classes. The plan WAS; David would sit with Liam in Nursery... Liam just started going and isn't used to being apart from me. He would also keep Violet with him. Things didn't go as planned naturally. Liam started freaking out that I wasn't staying. He kept running out of class to find me, this meant I had to watch Violet as David was busy with Liam. Eventually David decided to just take Liam home. I couldn't exactly hold Violet and focus on teaching the class, so I asked a friend of the family, who was in the class, to hold her please. He gave her some pens and she gently drummed with them the whole time. I was not distracted at all, she was so quiet and well behaved. Everyone raved about her after the class.

She is a very quick crawler/scooter and has just begun pulling herself up on furniture. Last month she perfected getting up to sit on her own. She has also started standing up in her crib so we had to lower it, in the hopes of delaying her climbing out of it. She has also started drinking from a sippy cup!

She just adores Liam! She loves to watch him and when he gets down and rolls around on the ground next to her, she laughs. They often play together, it's awesome.

She finds more and more things humorous. Is there a better sound to the ears then a baby laughing? Not to me.

I love you Violet!

First Crops

I harvested :) and cooked my first seed grown veggies the other day. The carrots are not ready yet, so those on the plate are store bought. The broccoli and lettuce was fresh and delicious, I was so happy...the veggies of my labor have paid off.

Liam Update: 2 Years, 5 Months

Liam's memory is really improving, I can see now that he'll remember things a while after they have happened. For instance he was watching the show Super Why, over an hour later we were playing pretend and I say "look, Super Letters!" (a line used in Super Why) while pointing to some non-existent letters on the wall and Liam then repeats the previous 5 super letters on the show in the exact order! He says excitedly "OEVNO!" It really surprised me.

He takes his pull-up's off now after he pees in it...he is trying to make it to the potty chair in time and sometimes succeeds! Usually he has already gone in his diaper. But he really rarely has accidents...and when he does it's been in the bath tub, easy to clean!

He is trying to really pick up on reading, spelling things out and writing his own letters. He had the letters KOI that he had put together. He says "Mummy!" (which is what he calls me sometimes) then proceeds to sound it out...what he came up with was K-ca O-ow I-eh he says "ca-ca ow COW!" he thought he discovered how to spell cow.

He can write several letters now, t T, X, H, i I, L, O, Q, E and F so far. AND he has learned some sign language alphabet, he does C, D, A, M, L, G with his hands. He finds letters in everything. He'll pick up a stick and say "Look! I!", a cherrio obviously "O!" a broken cherrio "C!", he saw the stem between a flower and leaf and screamed "V!" I think he thinks the world is made up of letters. It reminds me of this movie called PI or π rather, about this mathemetician who sees numbers in everything. He has 3 basic principles (1) Mathematics is the language of nature; (2) Everything around us can be represented and understood from numbers; (3) If you graph the numbers in any systems, patterns emerge. Therefore there are patterns everywhere in nature. Liam does this, except with the English Alphabet! haha.

I am so interested to see where this love of letters will take him. Will he have a love of languages? Will he be a writer? Will it have no impact on his life or future whatsoever? That last part seems harder for me to believe since Heavenly Father has given us all gifts and if we nurish our gifts they do improve and sometimes we are given additional gifts as a result. And this love of letters at such a young age, it's a gift.

Liam has his days where he doesn't listen. But he has been getting so much better at listening and obeying. Sometimes he screams "NO!" at me, but does what I ask just the same. I love my little boy, he is getting so big so quickly!

My 1st Garden

Couldn't Say it Better

I had a wonderful weekend. And my friend Jackie put it best so check out her blog post about it (I would have over written on it).

But I too had a blast and love those ladies. I even got to see my mom who was with a group of her friends. It was so uplifting and I came home renewed and resolved to be a better wife, mother and friend!

What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

My favorite GS Cookie are the Thin Mints. But my personality came up the following...which was pretty accurate in my opinion...though I am dramatic in my speaking I don't love drama. Does that make sense? In other words I don't desire things to happen to me or people I know so I can go around talking about it...but when I tell a story of something that happened to me I might flail my arms about dramatically and the tone of my voice may sound a bit dramatic. Also I wouldn't say I'm full of myself...but maybe others think that about me.

You Are Peanut Butter Patties / Tagalongs

You are creative and artistic. When you think, you tend to think big. You go for the drama. You love excitement and passion... even if it gets you in trouble. You are intense and a little self centered. You can be quite full of yourself (but not without reason). You tend to be very indulgent. If you feel like having something, you go ahead and treat yourself.

What Girl Scout Cookie Are YOU?

Adventures in Running Errands

I went to pick up the dry cleaning a little after 3:00, the lady said "you are early, they aren't ready yet" I said "Oh, what time then?" she says with some attitude "AFTER 5, you'll have to come back then". I said "Okay" gathered the kids back up. I didn't think to ask David what time the clothes would be ready since we had dropped them off on Friday...but anyhow to kill some time I went to Target to shop, got some clothes for the kids, bought them a swimming pool...today was pretty hot, thought it'd be a good time for one...bought Violet an Easter Basket...it's a small girly picnic/tea set basket, so cute. Started gathering stuff for Liam's more traditional basket...then he bit me! So I put his stuff back and we left. It was 5:10, so we went back to the dry cleaning place. This time the man who usually helps me came out. He helped me out to the car with the clothes AND he carried Violet who was in her car seat carrier. It was nice...he probably saw I had come in earlier. It's not easy bringing in both kids AND carrying the clothes that is for sure...and if I let Liam walk, he makes a dash for the parking lot. Sheesh. Now it's almost bed time...but with this time change thing...the kids didn't get the memo.

Adventures in the ER (post #100 btw)

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

after waiting for two hours in the triage waiting area.

Triage Guy: Violet Hall?
ME: Oh yes, that's us.
Triage Guy: So mom, tell me why you are here.
ME: Well I think she may have swallowed a 'button' battery.
Triage Guy: And why do you think this?
ME: OH well here, I brought the thing...see (as I pull out the little battery operated tea candle) I was folding the laundry and I look over and notice she has a hold of this candle...that my son was playing with earlier and I had thrown out but he must have dug out of the trash. And anyway she starts gagging on this little battery cover that had fallen off. I notice that the battery is gone and I know it was in there before I threw it out. I combed the room but I couldn't find the battery so thought it may be possible she swallowed it so I brought her in just in case she swallowed it.
Triage Guy: And when did this occur?
ME: 4 o'clock
Triage Guy: Any diarrhea, vomiting, shaking, fever anything unusual in her mood or behavior?
ME: No...she seems fine actually, I just want to be sure.
Triage Guy after checking her out: Okay follow me (as I'm led to a smaller waiting room for children).

zzzzzzzzzz

30 more minutes pass.

Nurse: Follow me to room 25
ME: Okay
Nurse: Tell me what happened
ME: She may have swallowed a 'button' battery from this object (as I show her the tea candle)
Nurse: has she had an X-Ray yet?
ME: Uh no, no that's why we are here
Nurse: Okay let me have that to show the doctor and I'll go order an X-ray.

David shows up 2 minutes later.

X-Ray People: Does that outfit have any snaps?
David: not that I can see
ME: yes, at the bottom, do you want me to just take it off?
X-Ray People: Yes please, since we are looking for a foreign object we don't want to confuse it with anything on her clothing.

They take the X-Ray and leave. David plays with Violet for a while, then she falls asleep. We watch a rerun of house.

Doctor: She's clear, she didn't swallow anything!
US: OH GOOD! Thank goodness. That's awesome.
Doctor: Yeah it would have been pretty bad if she did swallow a battery though, you did the right thing by bringing her in just in case.
ME: Yeah I didn't even know if it was possible to swallow something that big? (It was the size of a nickel).
Doctor: Oh YES, I've seen kids swallow Quarters so yes, it's entirely possible. You did the right thing...and it's better that she didn't.
US: Yeah of course.

zzzzzzzz more house......

Discharge Lady: I'm gonna get your information now. Do you have insurance and ID?
ME: Oh yes, here you go.
Discharge Lady: Do you still live at the (name of Apartments)? That's where I LIVE! On the other side though.
ME: No, we've moved...the other side, that's nice they've redone that side I heard...
Discharge Lady: Oh really? Why did you move?
ME: We bought a house.
Discharge Lady: OH I wish, but probably not for another year or so.
ME: yeah that's what we were saying for almost 3 years.
Discharge Lady: So Dad you want to be listed as the Incase of Emergency?
David: YES
Discharge Lady: Name?
US: David
Discharge Lady: Oh haha, how cute, David and Diana...I always wondered how that happens to cute couples, where they have the same first initial.
ME THINKING: What?
ME: Oh, heh, thanks, yeah (I don't know what to say).
Discharge Lady: Okay follow me!

That's that. It was such a long wait. But even for seemingly critical cases. One lady went up to Triage and said "I'm having trouble breathing, can someone help me" in a rather breathless tone. Triage said "You'll have to wait your turn, there is nothing we can do to help you". Another lady whose teenage son had wheeled her in said "I can't feel my arms or legs" Triage says "Okay you have to fill this form out first and then wait, it's a long wait". Another lady who had been waiting for nearly 3 hours finally gets seen. Comes out two minutes later. Looks like she's gonna cry. Gets on the phone and I hear her say "They didn't do anything, just told me it's allergies, they didn't even do a blood test".

Next time I have an emergency, I am not going there, that is for sure.

Violet Update: 9 Months

Now that I have posted a few videos of Violet you can see that I wasn't exaggerating when I said she is a sweet baby, nor exaggerating about her smile. Her whole face lights up when she smiles...and lights up everyone around her too. Of course what smiling baby doesn't make most people happy?

We went to David's grandmother's and step-grandfather's funeral Saturday, Feburary 28th, and after two hours at the memorial service and no nap all morning (it was now 12 noon), Violet was getting a bit squirmy, and vocal...not crying but lots heh heh hehing and AHHH! AHH! really loudly. So we stand up to sing a closing hymn and she is getting unhappier by the minute. I hold Violet under her arms and sway her back and forth. This made her so happy. She had the biggest grin on her face. The people behind us, and people behind them etc (because we are family we were at the front) I could hear them smiling back at her...and saying "awww, how precious" or "how sweet"...and I could hear them waving at her too. This is an example of how mothers have eyes in the back of our heads when it comes to our children...we have the ability to hear "smiles" and "waves". Even at a funeral, her smile lifted some of the sadness in the room...and that is not a bad thing, in my opinion. After the funeral, several of these smiling waving people wanted to get a closer look at her. I can't say I blame them.

Every day since she started scooting, she is increasingly eager to get on the floor and travel further. She doesn't roll nearly as much. Only if she wants to get on her back or stomach.

When we were in the car with the kids the other day, Liam would reach for her hand and smile at her and she would start cracking up laughing. David tells me that when Liam would take his hand back, she would reach for it again. She loves playing around Liam. And as long as I'm in the room too, Liam is happy to play with her as well.

Her big brother always gives her, her bottle now...as I have officially stopped breast feeding during month 7. He also loves to put a blanket on her and give her a hug and a kiss...he's 'putting her to bed' and doesn't really like it when she wiggles out from under the blanket. Sometimes he will 'pin' her down, by holding her legs, so she doesn't move, Violet doesn't like that too much. And poor Vi, if I have just told Liam no, for I don't know...drawing all over our house...and he gets a time out...he'll go up to Violet and tell her NO for whatever it is she is doing. I don't want him to think I favor her more...but I'm also not going to allow him to punish her, nor will I even pretend to punish her for doing nothing wrong. So that's fun. There has also been the occasion where he'll hit her (not hard but still) or sit on her...or try to stand on her. I've mentioned before that he gets automatic time outs for that. Well sometimes Violet is very excited and waves her arms enthusiastically when her brother is close to her and will accidentally hit him. Or she'll grab at him because she's a baby. He says "OW!" and then "owwwwwww,huh huh huh". And tell me "no hit!" while looking at me, expecting me to punish her. But she's just turning 9 months old...how do you explain that to a 2 year old without him thinking things are unfair? So I tell him it was an accident and that it didn't hurt him. If she grabs him in the face and it does look like it hurt, I put her in a pretend time out on my lap through the count of 10 and have her give him a 'hug and kiss'. I don't know what I'm doing here sometimes people. Just making it up as I go along I guess...hoping I'm not screwing them up too badly.

Lastly, Violet FINALLY, cut her first tooth a few days ago. Table foods...coming soon!

Raising a Girl, Raising a Boy...And Violet Scooting

I really need to add my own music...and stop using this standard stuff that comes with the program.

Play-Doh...Keeping Me Sane.

The last few days Liam has managed to (again) find a marker (Permanent this time) and write all over the walls of our living room, hallway, our bedroom, his bedroom. But this time he also wrote on the carpet, the couch, the chair, his red storage ottoman in his room...that was one day. So I know where were David and I? On our computers. I generally make it a rule no computers while the kids are awake. But Violet was asleep and Liam was 30 minutes to bedtime and we had decided (because it was a long day) let him watch his word world DVD. So we thought he would be fixed to the screen...noooo he took this as an opportunity to do what he must of been dying to do since the last time he wrote on the walls.

Then after I get as much of it out of the chair as I could, today while I was feeding Violet in the kitchen, he writes on the chair AGAIN. So it's been a rough morning. I kept putting him in time-out...but too much time-out just makes things worse it seems. So I broke out the play-doh while I attempted to clean what I could of the ink. I have also tried to make more of an effort to gather any and all writing utensils (I'm positive I've missed a few) and put them where he can't get at them (I hope). I am sick to dealth of cleaning these markings. I went ahead and bought the heavy duty magic eraser. It still doesn't get it all out. I also use a steam vac my mother-in-law has indefinetely let me borrow...she figures we need it more then she does I guess! Haha.

But yeah, that 30 minutes with the play-doh has helped me regroup. Now I better go before he climbs out of his highchair and finds another marker...

Mmmmammma

Violet said mama today...just now in fact.

Also yesterday afternoon she started army crawling.

AND NOW

While Liam was in time-out for the vinegar mess... I go to let him out and what do I find? He has written the letter t all over his bedroom walls... all of them, with a stray crayon he found...I thought I got rid of them all. He's a blood hound for finding writing utensils. It never ends. I guess we'll have to wait to repaint the walls and get new carpet...wait until he gets it out of his system...Violet too (now Violet is thinking 'hey what did I do?').

Argggg...before 10 A.M.

Liam poured red wine vinegar on the carpet near the kitchen...it is now soaking in resolve carpet cleaner.

Beautiful Violets

I know this video isn't especially interesting...and it's already on my facebook... but I am posting it for family and friends who want to bask in the joy that is my little Violet girl.

Liam Update: 2 Years, 4 Months

Almost a week behind. Sorry Liam!

He is such a big boy. Still working on the potty training...some days I work on it, other days I forget about it all day...except while I'm changing diapers.

He's really been buttering me up when he does something wrong and I tell him "Time OUT!" he'll say "Oh, I sorry mommy, HUG! KISS!" So I've had to change things up. Now I forgive him the first time. Second time he does it, he can tell me he's sorry after time out.

He has been practicing tracing letters and numbers. He loves it and tries really really hard. He can write the lowercase letter t very well for his age. I've since bought him work books and trying to encourage him to learn uppercase first. He'll say "down, across" or "up, down, across" etc...depends on the letter. When we work without the books, we work on his first name. With the books, they encourage practicing certain letters first...like T, L, H. Anyway, we have fun having our "school" time.

Playdough time has just worked it's way back into our day...it had been absent for a few months now because it had gotten to the point where he was just throwing it all over the kitchen floor. It's been fun for Liam to rediscover.

Taking a break from gardening...while the garden grows anyway. I water it everyday (except rainy days of course) while the kids are napping...but still have little picnics outside since the weather has been gorgeous.

We had a plumber out a few weeks ago because our garbage disposal was kaput (big hole in it). Liam just wanted to help him the whole time. It was very cute and a wee bit frustrating at the same time. He has his own tool bench and enjoys hammering the nails to the little wood pieces and "mommy (daddy) wook, build a tower" as he says.

He has been smacking David, sometimes me, in the face when he is frustrated...just when we think he's over doing so, he starts it up again.

He had a fairly bad cold a few weeks ago, I was hoping he was over it, but has a lot of congestion once again. Once he's over it, he can finally get the other half of his flu shot...though it may no longer be useful to do so...I don't know.

Liam has been talking much more, creating new sentences, it's very cute. He started singing the ABC's quite often this month, all the way through. He had started trying to sing it a while back, but would skip letters now he sings them all (though still bumbles through LMNO)...he was too shy on the video to sing.

Quite a handful. Oh and he doesn't let me talk on the phone. No way, that's when he gets into the most trouble. But we love him very much and he often gives hugs and kisses to everyone of us.