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Our FHE treat tonight was "Golden Graham S'Mores."
Oh. My. Gosh.
Recipe:
1. Spray Pam into an 8x10 baking dish.
2. Pour 1 box Golden Grahams into a large mixing bowl.
3. In a saucepan, melt 3 Tbs. butter and 1 package milk chocolate chips. When melted, add 3/4 C. corn syrup and 1 tsp. vanilla. Bring to a boil.
4. Pour over Golden Grahams and mix well.
5. Fold in 3 C. marshmellows.
ENJOY!
I am a bonafide big boy!
I am 2 months old, weighing in at 12 pounds (50th%), and measuring 25.5 inches (90th%).
I am rolling over!
I am sleeping from 9pm to 6:30am, which my mom desperately needed me to do.
I have the cutest dimples you've ever seen!
I love to smile, and I smile really big at my big sister.
I love my big sister. She's very silly, and very entertaining.
I also love my mom. No one can snuggle on me like my mom can!
I look just like my dad, and everyone loves how much hair I have.
I LOVE taking a bath with my sister! The warm water feels so good, and I love being clean.
I am a very happy boy, and I love my family!
When Mom's not looking, the piano gets a visit from a monkey.
A chocolate chip cookie gets eaten by the cookie monster.
And the friendly lion gets lunch served by the resident cook. Because lions can't go hungry, right?
And yes, that is a diaper the lion is wearing. Delicately put on by his little mommy.
The view from our back porch on Tuesday afternoon, right before it started to rain. Aren't the sun rays marvelous?
Here's another, a little later in the afternoon.
The only word I could think of to describe it was "glory."
Let me paint the picture for you:
Sariah is sleeping.
Emerson (my niece) is sleeping.
James is sleeping.
It's quiet.
The living room is clean.
Therefore, I put my head down.
I rest my head for a lovely 30 minutes. Just enough to renue myself.
I am awakened by my hungry son. It is time for his meal, and he means business.
I scoop up my wailing offspring, and he eagerly starts eating.
Mid-meal, GIANT BLOW-OUT.
No problem. When he finishes eating, I'll change his diaper.
Oh wait. His diapers are in Sariah's room.
No problem. I'll grab a diaper from the diaper bag.
Oh wait. The diaper bag is in Sariah's room.
Do I dare go in there and chance waking her up?
NO WAY JOSE.
What am I going to do? I can't let the poor boy sit in his poo for the next hour!
Just then, something catches my eye...
Yes, that's Sariah's duck...wearing one of James' diapers!!
Sariah is going through this little mommy phase where ALL of her animals have diapers on.
SAVED!!!
I grab the diaper off of the duck, knowing that Sariah can always put a new one on it later.
Now, where are the wipes.
Uh oh...those are in Sariah's room, too...
There is a woman out there whom I have admired ever since I have known her. To put it simply, she is amazing. But there's no simplicity to this woman at all.
To get an idea of her day, click HERE.
Homeschools (and has her entire life) all of her children, has a full garden, a room dedicated to food storage, is musical in all of the ways you wish you were, teaches piano to about 30 kids, and is strong spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Oh, and all of her kids are amazing.
She is the kind of mom I want to be.
I know we all have someone like that.
What does this look like to you???
I walked by the kitchen, and nearly JUMPED out of my skin when I saw this!
"How in the world did a SNAKE get in the house?!?!"
I slowly crept up to it, armed with a broom in hand (which was conveniently in the living room b/c it's Sariah's new favorite toy), ready to attack in a split second.
When I came upon the poor unsuspecting creature, this is what I found:
A piece of play jewelry that my niece trotted all over the house this morning, and deposited on the kitchen floor on her way out the door to the backyard.
Phew.
...............And I'm a dork.
To put it plainly - James LOVES snuggling.
I always wanted a snuggly baby. Sariah would have nothing to do with it, and still doesn't (unless she's super tired or sick - and that happens once in a blue moon). So when I found out I was pregnant again, I prayed for a snuggly baby.
I got what I wanted...and it's wonderful. It's wonderful when I'm the only one who can calm him. It's wonderful when I get him in his little "nook" on my chest, and he buries his face and promptly falls asleep.
Lately, he's all smiles. He smiles so big that it usually shuts his eyes!! Here are some cute pictures of him smiling.
(Our little pirate.)
Sariah thinks she's 5 years old. She wants to go to school, she reads books to herself, and is starting to write her letters (or so she thinks). She can count to 50, is talking all over the place, and in general is a "BIG" girl. She has started to take an interest in the potty, and underwear, but still isn't ready to potty-train. I'm really not ready for her to grow up, so this isn't something that I am pushing. She just turned 2, so I still have plenty of time. She has done everything else early, so I'm ready for her to slow down a little!
To commemorate this sudden change of toddler-status, we got Sariah a haircut. She looks SO CUTE!
Before (wearing all 10 pair of her big-girl underwear):
After (don't you LOVE the curls??):
Funny story. Yesterday afternoon, it was a rare occasion. James, Sariah, and I were ALL ASLEEP. It was a beautiful sight, and sound.
All of a sudden, I hear Sariah fall off MY BED!!!
Apparently, she had woken up and come in to my room. I was so deep in sleep, that I didn't hear her. Or feel her climb up onto my bed. The problem came when she tried to climb over a pile of clean clothes that I hadn't yet put away. She couldn't quite reach the summit, and fell right off the bed, bum first, into our dresser.
She started to cry and I immediately went to her side. She wiggled out of my arms, ran to the hall closet, and asked for a bandaid. She wasn't bleeding, but I knew it would help her feel better. As soon as I gave her the bandaid, she promptly dropped her drawers and put it on her bum (on the outside of her diaper). As soon as it was in place, she proudly explaimed, "All better, Mama!"
But the story doesn't stop there. She assumed that because her bum hurt, mine must hurt also. She INSISTED (in her 2 year old way) that I have bandaids on MY bum, too. I humored her, and allowed her to put them on my bum.
However, she wouldn't let me take them off...all day. I taught all of my piano lessons that afternoon, with bandaids on my bum. Each student giggled as they saw the bandaids, and then heard the explanation for them.
NOTE: Those bandaids must work magic because I look so skinny in that picture!!
Speaking of all better - James slept last night from 10 to 5:30. I think this medicine has kicked in. Only time will tell.
When Jared and I were married, it was "Jared and I."
When we had Sariah, our lives became "Jared, me, and our daughter."
Since James joined our family, we now have child"ren."
It's not just "our daughter" anymore, but "our children". What an amazing change it has been to include a second wee-one into our family.
Thankfully, Sariah has taken quite a liking to James. She hasn't become jealous, ornery, desperate for attention, or any of the like. In fact, she's become a little mother. She puts diapers on all her animals, gives James his pacifier (even if he doesn't want it!), burps her baby, and insists that mama be the only one to hold James. For this, I am so grateful.
Here is our sweet boy, smiling! Don't you LOVE the dimples?
Remember last night's post?
This morning, I called the doctor. She said to bring the baby in.
THERE IS A REASON.
Poor baby James has acid reflux.
He has medicine that will hopefully help.
I knew there was a reason he was so fussy. I knew it because, well, I just did.
My poor, sweet son really was in pain, and now I CAN FIX IT.
I am not helpless anymore.
Here's to a fuss-free night tonight! =)
It's 3am, and I am listening to my baby cry.
He awoke at 1:30 for his middle-of-the-night feeding, and promptly threw it ALL up ALL over me. He has a bad tummy ache, and I am not sure why. He had one last night, too.
I can't console him. I rock him, he cries. I let his tummy settle and tried to feed him again, and he cries. I changed his diaper, and he cries. I don't know what to do.
Once I knew his tummy was settled, it was time to go back to sleep. I rocked him, burped him, loved him, snuggled him...and put him down. He protested, and is still protesting.
I hate nights like this because I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Me - who babysat a family of 5 every Friday night for 4 years, who took on all 4 of my nephews while my brother and his wife vacationed, who has been a "mother" ever since she could say the word - doesn't know what to do.
Thus, I am letting him cry. I did go back in to pick him back up once and burp him - just to make sure he didn't still have a bubble in there somewhere. He didn't. He wanted mom. I gave him what he wanted for a few more minutes.
Thus, I blog. I blog to organize my thoughts. Somehow, because I'm blogging about it, it's not as bad as it was a few minutes ago. At times like this, blogging is therapeutic. But for now, I'll listen to my baby cry and feel helpless. I know there's nothing else I can do for him, but let him learn how to go back to sleep on his own.
I can't believe our little boy is 6 weeks old.
He is smiling.
He is rolling from front-to-back.
That's about it. =)
Here are some pictures taken of him by my sister-in-law, Erin. He was just 6 days old. *Sigh*
Sariah and her cousin, Emerson. Aren't they adorable on the piano?
Funny thing is, Sariah was "instructing" Emerson on how to play.
"Soft."
"Gentle."
"Your keys, minet keys (pronounced as 'mine' but with a 't' on the end).
OUT-TAKES
(Have you ever tried to take a picture of 2 squirly, wiggly girls? Just when one is still, the other moves!!)
Lil' miss independent is at it again.
Today's task?
Putting on her swim suit all by herself.
LOL. I am STILL laughing about this. And TOTALLY embarrassed.
So the story goes a little something like this.
I am the ward organist. I taught myself how to play the organ when our sweet bishop had no luck finding someone to replace the organist who moved out of the ward. Cue me - and I'm still learning. Luckily, I am also the music chairperson, so I get to choose the hymns every Sunday.
Please turn to page 161 in the hymn book. The title of this hymn is "The Lord Be With Us." In the hymn book, it's a small hymn at the bottom of the page with 2 lines. See those 2 simple little lines?
This is a new song for me. Once in a while, I'll throw in songs that I don't know so the congregation has exposure to songs that aren't familiar. As I'm practicing the song this morning, I'm playing the 2 lines and am not quite sure how I like the song. I'm thinking to myself, "Wow, this has a very funny ending to it. It doesn't sound like it has closure." Oh well - I'm not the one who wrote it.
Sacrament meeting is over, and it's time for the practice hymn, which is this new song. I start playing the introduction, and am ready to start the song...only no one else is. The chorister starts waving her arm, and I follow suit. NO ONE IS SINGING. Oh well, it's only Sunday School. We promptly sing all 3 verses, and all is well.
After the song is over and everyone is dismissed, the chorister comes up to me and asks, "What happened?"
I'm baffled. "What do you mean?" I ask.
She turns to the hymn, and points to a 3rd line up at the top of the next page!!!
Oops. I didn't even SEE the 3rd line at the top of the page. I never saw it. Not when I was practicing, and obviously not when I was playing.
This is why no one was singing - they didn't know when I was going to stop, and when I was going to start!!!
This is why the song had a funny ending - IT WASN'T THE ENDING!!!
There were several who watched my face as the chorister pointed out my obvious blunder, and many started cracking up when I realized what had happened. I was SO embarrassed, but will be the first to admit that it was very funny.
You know what we're going to do? Sing it again next week. This time, I'll play it right. This time, everyone will sing. Hopefully, they won't release me just yet. I'll get the hang of it!
This is how James looked last night...
From 9:30pm to 5am.
WHAT?!?!?
Are 5-week-olds allowed to start sleeping through the night??
Yes, yes they are. =)
It was probably a fluke - let's see what happens tonight.
NOTE: His pediatrician has given the thumbs-up on James sleeping on his tummy.
