My son...

I've been letting T have more of a say on what he wears. Usually it involves me holding two shirts and asking which one he wants to wear.

Not so today.

T decided he was going to wear the following outfit. And no amount of persuasion on my part could convince him otherwise. I decided that a tantrum isn't worth the effort of making him change, so here he is, in all his fashionista glory.....


An old jammie top from last year, socks, dirty tennis shoes, no pants. Are we leaving the house today? ...No.

Wordless Wednesday

Out of they frying pan...

and into the fire. That's how I'm thinking of my new calling! Last Sunday I had a meeting with one of the counselors. I figured that since I had three callings (enrichment leader, primary teacher, humanitarian board member) that I was being released from one of my callings. My money was on the humanitarian calling. I had heard a few times that I was supposed to be released from that one a long time ago.

So imagine my shock when he said he wanted to release me from ALL my callings. I only got the enrichment leader calling a month ago so I was confused. Well, his next words cleared it all up.

"We want to call you to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency." Huh? Me? You want me to be one of the in-charge people?

To make a long story short I accepted the calling. I had my first meeting yesterday and it quickly became apparent that my new middle name was going to be "I have a meeting I have to go to tonight..."

We are home

from our trip to Las Vegas. It was fun for the most part. T took his tantrums to a whole new level. For some reason we had forgotten that T doesn't do well with change. We had a battle everytime we got into the car, stroller, or a restaurant. We stayed with some friends who were wonderful! Their house was so welcoming and comfortable.

We had a great time at the Hoover Dam, but a not so great time on the strip. Our babysitter fell through so we had to take T with us. That coupled with a million people pretty much made the day suck. We should have found something else to do. We really only took pictures at the dam, so here are a few...

Our dam tour started by T screaming as we put him in the car, screaming when we tried the stroller, screaming when we decided to let him walk, but wouldn't let him run away. Screaming when we went back to the stroller.

DA and T.
Me and T.
And just because I thought it was cute. This was the day before we left on our trip.

This is so typical...

DA was out working in the yard a bit, and T was trying to clean up the snow and dirt for us. What is it with my kid and vacuums?

Apple Bars

We loved this one!

Apple Bars

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apples - peeled, cored and finely diced
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 8x8 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix melted butter with sugar and egg. Mix in flour, baking soda, and cinnamon, and then stir in apple and walnuts. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a small knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wordless Wednesday

New Recipe...

I get bored with food easily, so I try a lot of new recipes. I've decided that when I run into good ones that my family likes I'll post them here.

This week's I found on www.recipezaar.com.

Caesar Pork Chops

4 pork chops
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/2 cup creamy caesar salad dressing
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I used the canned stuff)

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray glass baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a pie pan or shallow dish, mix flour and italian seasoning. Pour dressing into another pie pan or shallow dish.

3. Coat both sides of chop with the flour mixture; sip into dressing coating both sides well. Place in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Discard any remaining flour and dressing.

4. Bake uncovered, 35 to 40 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center.

My Life Monday - Pet Peeves

Yay for Rachelle and My Life Mondays. I will participate when it doesn't make my head hurt trying to think of my answer!

Pet Peeve #1 - People who can't put their shopping carts away. -even when the corral is only 5 feet away. How lazy can you be?

Pet Peeve #2 - Mom's who don't wipe their kids noses.

Pet Peeve #3 - Cell phones in restaurants. Geez, unplug for a little bit will ya?

Pet Peeve #4 - Seeing kids with cell phones.

Pet Peeve #5 - Rowdy kids in restaurants. I make my kid sit down, why can't you?

I could probably go on and on, but I'll stop less you find out how cranky I really am.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my big boy! You've brought Daddy and I so much joy and happiness the past few years!





I woke up Tuesday morning (February 1st) not feeling very well (I was 39 weeks, 1 day) but really couldn’t pin down the reason why I didn’t feel well. I went to work but felt progressively worse throughout the morning. I went to lunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and while I was there I had a feeling that I should check my blood pressure. It was 154/97. I dismissed it thinking it was just a fluke, since we took my blood pressure three more times and it was all over the place, but Grandma made me promise to call my doctor.

I called the nurse and they wanted to send me to labor and delivery to be monitored. I called Daddy and put him on “alert.” I went over and felt silly the whole time thinking that it wasn’t necessary; I was going to get hooked up and find that Grandpa’s blood pressure machine was faulty and that we were going to get another huge bill for the stress test for nothing. To my surprise the first reading was 157/94, and I was having weird little crampy contractions (as the nurse called them). After an hour my blood pressure was still high so Dr. Smith called and said that he wanted to induce me. I agreed. I wanted to be induced a week early anyway! I called Daddy and let him know that you were going to be coming today.

At 4:45pm Dr. Tweede came and broke my water. I was dilated to a 1.5 and 70% effaced. That's pretty much where I had been the week before. As soon as my water broke I tried to pass out. I had ringing in my ears, and everything seemed so far away. The nurse gave me some oxygen and the world came back into focus. The pitocin was started and I was told that I could have an epidural anytime I wanted. I wasn’t going to be a wimp and get an epidural when I was only at a 1.5, so I told her that I would wait a while. 45 minutes later I was singing a different tune. I had heard contractions were more intense after your water had been broken and I was a believer. I wanted that epidural! I would have knocked out the first person who called me a wimp too! Daddy had arrived by then and was doing his best to rub my lower back in between the contractions, and my upper back during them. I didn’t like having my lower back touched during the contractions.

I was feeling a little uneasy and scared of the epidural so I told Daddy I wanted a blessing before they did it. We called Grandpa to come and help give the blessing so I had to wait a little longer. Grandpa got there a little after six (I swear it was an eternity. He said that he hit every red light on the way over). I got the blessing and immediately felt better regarding the epidural. At 6:30 I received my wonderful epidural. I don’t remember it hurting at all; I just remember Daddy almost passed out. He was supposed to be holding my shoulders to support me as I leaned forward but his arms were so rubbery that I was pretty much supporting myself. The nurse kept asking him if he was okay. The phone rang during the middle of the procedure, and the nurse told Daddy that she thought he should answer it. Once Daddy was off the phone she had him sit down over by the table until I was through getting the epidural.

Becky, Karalee, and Sara all came over and hung out in the room entertaining me. At 8:30 they came and put in a catheter and checked me. I was 4 cm dilated and 95% effaced. Since I was only dilated to a 4, Grandma sent Grandpa, Becky, Karalee, and Sara home while we settled in and tried to get some rest. After 20 minutes we gave up on the resting idea.

At 10:15 the nurse came and checked me again and I was to a 9, and 100% effaced. Grandma got on the phone and called everyone to come back. They all wanted to be there when you were born. I was fine with that as long as they were in the hallway and not in the room. I wanted it to be just Daddy and me (and the hospital staff of course) when you were as born.

At 10:45 they started to prep the room to take care of you, and at 11:00 I was 9.75 dilated. By 11:40 I was complete and the nurse had me start pushing at 11:55.
Everyone had come back by then, so when I started pushing they moved out to the hallway and played cards until you were born. They said that they were calling out encouragement to me, but I couldn’t hear them. I was busy!
You had your cord wrapped around your neck so your head was pretty gray and blue when you were coming out.

At 12:35 on Wednesday, February 2, 2005, YOU were born. We named you Tornado T. (not really) You were 8 lbs, 1 oz. and 21 inches long. No one (including the Dr.) thought that you were going to be that big.

You were so beautiful and so calm while they were cleaning you up and monitoring you. Your birth and the moments afterward will be ones I will always remember. Daddy kept going back and forth between you and me. I had never felt so much love at one time before. Daddy and I finally had our sweet baby.

Pretend it's still Wednesday...

Wordless Wednesday

Boring, Boring, Boring....

That's me... Nothing is happening, so there is nothing to post.

Here is some random stuff....

* I hate my new calling. Currently I am a primary teacher, on the Humanitarian Board, and am now the Enrichment Leader. I guess this is what I get for never going to enrichment?

* I hate, hate, hate this cold weather. T and I are stir crazy. You know it's bad when you are excited to go to the grocery store.

* My floors need to be mopped and I don't want to do it.

* Can't wait for summer when we can play outside.

* T is turning 2 on Friday. Floors need to be mopped because we have a bunch of family coming who have never seen the house...

* T is obsessed with parmesan cheese right now. Today he brought it to me while I was in the shower. Along with his sippy and the milk jug.

Feeling so guilty....

T's second birthday is coming up and we had no idea what to get him so DA and I took T to Toys R Us to see what caught his attention. For about 30 minutes we just let him run around the store and explore. About 20 minutes in, T saw this toy. You should have seen the look of joy on his face. He spent the next 10 minutes pushing this around laughing and grinning. No matter where we went in the store, T had this little mower with him.

But, we didn't buy it. It wasn't because of the price, but the noise. The popping beads are just so loud! I know it would only be inside for a short time, but still!

Everytime I remember the look on his face and how happy he was I feel so guilty! Are we horrible parents?

Who needs to use words anyway?

Sheer determination. That would be my son. He is determined not to talk, but I'm beginning to think that he really doesn't need to. At two years of age (next month) he only has 7-10 words, but he has managed to overcome the language barrier. Here are a few examples.

Instead of saying,

I want some milk please: he brings me his sippy, and the jug of milk.

I want some chocolate milk: he brings me the sippy, a spoon, and the nesquick.

I'm hungry: he climbs into his booster and pats the table in front of him showing me where the food goes.

I want yogurt: gets a yogurt from the fridge; brings it to me with a spoon.

I need to be changed: stands in front of his changer.

I want to take a bath: takes my hand, leads me to the bathroom and stands in front of the tub.

Put some clothes on me it's after 12:00: takes off his jammies, and tries to get dressed himself.

So in light of all this, I am beginning to think that he's never going to talk because we are doing just fine. He's really good at showing us what he wants. We did try and put a lock on the fridge, but T just stood there and tugged, and tugged, and tugged until the lock broke. Sheer determination with a will to never give up....

5 to 1

That's how many times I ran last week vs. how many times DA worked out. I hope I can keep it up. I really don't want to lose any weight (I like the clothes I have now) and I think I am at a good weight, I would just like to tone up the jiggle areas a bit. (a lot)

I will never be as skinny as I was when I got married, (my hip bones stuck out further than my stomach, and my wedding dress was a size 2) but that's okay. One, I didn't eat much back in the day, and two, I have a child to show for my hips and poochy tummy. That said, the tummy just needs to be less poochy!

Did Hell freeze over?

That's what DA asked when I told him that I've run on the treadmill two days in a row. Gee, thanks for boosting my motivation!

Before and After

We still have one or two things to do (light fixture for entry way, some wall something or other for over the couch, and a table for the other wall) but I wanted to share!

Good Golly! He's just like Daddy....

Tonight I had to use the pumice stone on my 23 month old son's feet. I took his socks off to bathe him and his heels and big toes are all dry and peely. (That's probably not a word, but it works for me at the moment.) For the record I always put lotion on his feet after I bathe him. I will have to investigate and see if DA does the same when it is his night to bathe T.

DA has the worst feet in the world! He won't put lotion on them and they are always dry, cracked, and peeling. They look awful! Well it seems that T takes after him in this respect too. As if he wasn't already a mini DA.

It's the dead of winter and T wears socks all the time. If they are like this now, what are they going to be like in the summer?

Daddy....

We miss you!

It's DA first day back at work since the Christmas break and we miss him! We got so much done in the way of home projects and de-junking, but most of all, we just miss his company. T loved having Daddy to play with and I loved having another adult around!

Oh what fun....

Christmas morning was great! We waited until 8:30 and then DA and I went and woke up T. He was trying to sleep the day away! He loved his wagon and was more interested in hauling around his presents than opening them. But as much as T loves the wagon it still doesn't compare to his most beloved toy, the vacuum. Here are a few pictures....

Christmas Eve in the jammies that Grammy made.

T and his wagon.

Finally getting the hang of unwrapping.

A much loved piano from Nonni.

I sent DA on a scavenger hunt for his gift. He's smiling so I think I did good!

Hanging out with the saw and the magna doodle.

What Grandpa John sent us...

One of my gifts from DA.
Playing with his new blocks and cousin K.

Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours, may the light of Christ bring warmth and light to you and your family.

2006 was a good year for the A Family.

We bought our first home! We moved in the last week of June and immediately started working on making this home our own. We finished the sprinkler system, sowed grass, painted, re-carpeted, and installed new flooring in the main living area. The more we do, the more ideas we come up with! Knowing that, we have many more projects in mind for this up coming year. We love our new neighborhood, and were lucky enough to move into a great ward.

When we haven’t been working on the house we’ve been busy elsewhere. D is still working on the SLCCHSB project. I stay busy running after T, and looking after our home.

Our ward wasted no time putting us to work. Both D and I teach the 4-5 year olds in church. It was a struggle at first since T did not like nursery. (What an understatement!) While he still isn’t fond of going, it gets better each week. I am also on the Humanitarian Board and have been able to participate in some wonderful service projects and activities.

T is almost 2 years old now, and is a delight. He is a very active, but very quiet, little boy. He talks at home, but rarely anywhere else. We get comments all the time about how serious he is. While he is starting to act like a typical two year old, he is also a big help. He loves to be outside and was constantly active with the yard tools when we finished up the grass. He enjoyed bringing D his hammer, prybar, and other tools when he installed new flooring. He also likes to help mom load/unload the dishwasher, collect the garbage, and will sweep the floor with the swiffer. His favorite toy is still the vacuum cleaner and he loves D’s tools, especially the drill.

Love,

The A Family

Ode to my vacuum....

I love you! You clean, keep things tidy, and entertain. Yes, I do mean entertain. The other day I had you out and you entertained and kept Tornado T out of trouble for hours! I was able to scrapbook, shower, do my hair and makeup, and play on the computer. My thanks to you!

A time to be Thankful....

I am thankful for a lot of different things. To name a few....

-DA and Tornado T are at the top of that list.

-Good health for me and family are pretty high up there too.

-We've been blessed with a house this year, and we made some good friends pretty quickly. That has been wonderful!

-I'm thankful for family and the support they give to us.

-I'm excited and happy about my new doctor and have high hopes once again.

I am a blessed woman!

My sweet T...

These pictures were taken last night. He loves his little bike!

Making the change...

I'm thinking of switching over to the beta blogger. Is it worth it? Will I be disappointed?

Happy Halloween!

Technically it is November now, but I had to show off my little lion. He had so much fun. He loved wearing his costume and while he never connected with the whole candy thing, he loved running up and down the street. Anytime you can play chase is a good time for him.

There are days where I don't want to be me ...

As the day has gone on I've been feeling better, but can't this day, this week be over yet?

Check it out.

Why, Why, Why?

I want to know why general fiction is so awful these days! I try and try to expand my horizons, but when I do I am reminded why I love the romance genre so much. (The romance books that actually have plots...)

I love happy endings. I like rooting for the characters and seeing everything work out. It's not real life, but sometimes real life needs a boost.

I just read this book The Keep which people just raved about, and I thought it was horrible, confusing, and didn't make me happy at all. I thought the writer was an idiot for writing something like this. She wouldn't even use quotations for people talking. She would just write their name with a colon after it and what that charater said. I. hated. it.

Here's another one The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was a good book, but the marriage's in the book sucked. They were filled with adultery and distance. Why do I want to read about depressing stuff like this? Isn't life hard enough?

The Pact - A Love Story. No it's not. It's all about suicide and how familes were destroyed by it. No happy ending there.

I could go on and on. Why can't general fiction books be funny and happy, and leave me with a giddy little giggle because I enjoyed it so much? One that I can't wait to share with a friend? What's wrong with reading fluffy, entertaining books? Am I missing something with these other books?

I must be reading the wrong general fiction books.

Until then I remain,

A Faithful Romance book reader.

Aww....

Now that Tornado T has learned to fold his arms we pray and pray a lot. Who knew that a 20 month old could be such a good example? But beware... if your prayers aren't said quickly enough, Tornado T will let you know when you should be done.

My super late response to a meme...

I was tagged by Cyl

What do you like most about where you live?
The rural feel that is has. It's quiet and there is no constant hum of traffic. We live in a great neighborhood that has a close feeling to it. There are also tons of children around.

Is there anything strange about where you live?
It is so far from everything. The closest gas station and grocery store is 15 minutes away. Also the city goverment is a joke.

What's one of your all time favorite music albums and why?
Def Leppard - Adrenalize. It brings back such great memories whenever I listen to it. It's also a guarenteed cheer me up album.

Did you have a passion for something as a kid that you still have now? (if not, what is one of your passions now?)
Reading. It has always been my favorite pastime.

What do you like most about having a blog?
It makes it easy to keep in touch with friends and family. Also I love getting comments. That's the best thing!

Who am I tagging?

Musical Mom
Becky
Amy

This and That...

1. It turns out I haven't been listening to my son. If I had been listening closer, I would have figured out that he's been saying "What's zat?" ("What's that?") for a good week now.

2. T is about to become a nursery dropout. While passing the primary president in the hall at church, she heard me assuring a sobbing T that I wasn't taking him to nursery. (We were going into Sacrament which is last) and I made a comment to her that nursery wasn't going well. In fact it was getting worse each week. She then proceeded to tell me that nursery was optional and if T needed more time then to take it. She said that T is still young and that having him sob all through nursery wasn't doing anyone any good. It was only teaching him to dread church. So he is now joining the CTR - 5 class, (which DA and I teach) as long as he isn't a big disruption. We will try nursery again when he turns 2.

3. We are getting closer to being done with the living room. Here is another update type photo. We still need to touch up the paint, repair the drywall in a few places, and put the baseboards back up. Then we will be done.

Another word!!!

Tornado T said another word! He's been saying it a bunch so I feel it is safe to add it to our list. He now says "Hi."

Tornado T

What your face will look like if you don't listen to your mom and then ride your bike down the front porch steps.

Success!

It's been two full days since Tornado T has cried for his binky. He's only cried for it once in the three days since I took it away. Yay for T!

No wonder....

Our allergies went haywire when we moved here. We thought it was because we were in the country and not the city, but this is why.....

We thought this pile of dirt/dust was a nail head sticking up.....

This is one of the many piles of dirt I swept up.


This is what my house looks like at the moment.

It is amazing how projects multiply once you get started. First it was paint, now it's flooring, and curtains come next, and then..... I want more furniture.

Time to say good-bye...

I just put Tornado T to bed without binky. I noticed that his front teeth seem to be poking out a bit, so I cut off all the tips of the binky's. I have loved the binky's just as much as he has. He always gets real quiet and stops whiney when it's in his mouth. But... I can't sacrifice his teeth for a bit of quiet.

I let him take his binky to bed, but he kept staring at it knowing that something wasn't right. I've always kept his binky's on the ledge of the crib and tonight as I was walking downstairs I could hear him searching for a binky that wasn't "broken." He should be finding out that something isn't quite right with those either. He's going to be sad, and I am sad just knowing that.

I have one binky hidden in my dresser, but I am going not going to give in and use it. So let it be written, so let it be done!

UPDATE:
Tornado T went to bed without a hitch last night. There was no crying and wailing like I expected...... until today. I put him down for a nap and there were instant tears. I held firm to my resolve not to give in. He had been crying for about 10 minutes when I checked on him. (had to make sure nothing else was wrong) He was sitting up with three binky's in his hands. I rocked him for a minute, told him that his binky's were broken and that it would be okay. I put him back in his crib, wiped more tears away and left. He cried for 20 more minutes. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of his nap tonight at bedtime.

Here we go again...

I think we are glutton's for punishment. After finishing the painting we were relieved there were no more home improvement projects scheduled. Then we got to looking around... the paint looked so nice, wouldn't a new floor look nice too? We had been planning on replacing the cheap, ugly, and stained carpet at some time but we didn't think it would happen until winter. So.... last night we went and bought 23 cases of Pergo Flooring and started ripping up the carpet. Once again we are living in a construction zone. *Sigh* But it will look great once it's done.

On a side note..... I will never ever move into another house unless the carpet is replaced before we move in. - No matter how clean it looks. When ripping up the carpet we found huge, massive amounts of dust and dirt under the carpet and under the pad. BEYOND YUCKY! I can't even begin to describe how much dust and dirt there was. No wonder our allergies have been out of control since we moved here. DA is completely grossed out that he's been laying on the floor watching TV the whole time. We thought that we had nail heads coming up, or something because of unevenness in the floor. No, it's was just piles of dirt. Eww! I may have to burn my vacuum when this is over. There is nothing worse than other people's dirt.

We are done! Almost.....

We still need some finishing touches, like curtains and pictures on the wall, but here are the before and after pictures!

Why did I think this was going to be fun?

Painting is not fun. at all. Trim should be used as a punishment.

We are painting out living room and kitchen for the past three days, and we still aren't done. We have to finish the kitchen and then paint the arch way. I'll post pictures when we are done. The bedrooms are just going to have to stay the way they are. I don't think I can handle painting anymore.