Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Shtuff

-I am through with the Family Letters.  They were changing the dynamic of my blog.  Since I don't have time to both blog and write weekly letters, the letters must go.  I choose to blog.  I changed the look and the play list a bit if anyone cares to see.

-Lyla is seven (!) months old.  She rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy, sits up like a champ, eats lots of solid foods, babbles (mama, dada, baba, nana, lala, ella...), claps, waves, gives 5's, and has the cutest smile around.  Now if only she would sleep through the night...

-Yes, I've been sleep deprived.  In fact, I've sort of felt like a zombie the last seven months.  Lyla usually wakes up around twice a night and has lately been waking up really early as well.  Last night gave me hope, though.  She woke up but cried herself back to sleep without me getting out of bed.  I fed her at 5:00 AM and then she slept past 8:30. 

-Kate still wakes up in the night.  We weaned her from sleeping in our bed and rewarded her with a Rapunzel doll and a trip to Kangaroo Zoo.  After a while she started wandering into our bed again.  When she stays in her own bed, she still wakes up and yells for us to fix her blankets.  She refuses to sleep under her covers; she will only let us put one specific blanket over her and she doesn't know how to cover herself with it after it falls off.  Besides the sleep deprivation, Kate is my biggest trial right now.  She is a feisty one!

-Ada and Kate are so different.  Ada is independent, shy, and likes to keep to herself.  Kate asks for help with everything, is outgoing, and loves to cuddle.  Ada has been getting herself dressed since she was two; Kate still needs help every day.  Ada has never allowed us to wipe her after using the toilet; Kate asks for help every time.  Kate always says that she doesn't know how to do stuff, not in a down-on-herself way, but just matter-of-factly.  Ada was so hard at ages two and three (and four...); Kate is ridiculously hard at three. 

-Mother's Day was a great day.  Tyler let me sleep in and made cinnamon rolls from scratch for breakfast.  He ended up making two batches because he thought the first batch wasn't going to turn out.  It did, so we had cinnamon rolls all week.  (We ate breakfast around noon.  After several hours in the kitchen he was pretty tired so I made the frosting.)  He did dishes and cleaned up.  He did all this while having to be in charge of church stuff.  The Elders Quorum took over in Primary that day, so Tyler had to get everything ready for that.  He also was in charge of putting together and handing out the gifts to all the women at church.  We each received a bag with a packet of forget-me-not seeds, a copy of President Uchtdorf's talk, and some chocolate.  We ate dinner at the in-laws' house that evening.  Tyler's dad broke out the marshmallow shooters and the kids were having fun playing with them.  Tyler was shooting mallows at Kate, trying to get them in her mouth.  Lyla decided that it was the funniest thing ever and laughed hard every time Tyler shot.  It was the cutest, funniest thing!  She giggles a lot, but this was like a video you'd see on YouTube.  I loved it!  For dessert, we ate this cake that Morgan and I made.  It was also Morgan's birthday, so this was her cake of choice.  It is a very intimidating recipe, so we split it up and then got together Saturday night to assemble it.  It so thick and dense it had to be cut with an electric knife!  It was really rich and intense.  We've come up with a few modifications if we ever decide to venture into that territory again.

-Tyler purchased his dream car a few weeks ago.  You can read about it on his blog.  He has been talking about this car for years.  He's really not a car person, but he became obsessed fascinated with the technology of the Volt.  It's different than a hybrid in that is runs exclusively on electric for 40 or so miles before kicking into gas.  His office is not very far from our house, so he can charge it overnight and doesn't have to use any gas.  It's pretty cool, with a huge touch screen and everything.  It's also fun to drive.  I'm just glad that his dream car is a Chevy and not a Maserati or something in that ballpark!  (Funny side note: I overheard Ada tell a friend that her dad got a new car.  She said, "He's been dreaming about it!"  I guess that is her interpretation of a dream car!)

-Another funny thing from Ada: one day she just randomly said to me, "Mommy, some people want to be a mom with big boobs."  I had to suppress a laugh.  I thought she'd heard that from school but she hesitantly told me that her cousin Sophie said that.  Hopefully I can teach her that there are much more important things than having big boobs (and frankly, if she's anything like her mother, she will be gravely disappointed if that's what she's expecting).

-Kate is always saying funny things.  A few I can remember:
     -I was helping her put things away in her room and she picked up a stuffed Donald Duck and said,  "What about this feathered friend?"
     -She saw some neighbor girls playing outside, opened the door, and yelled, "Do you guys have a mind of your owns?"
     -While I was busy feeding Lyla, she went into the bathroom to pee.  Right after she closed the door she started yelling something.  I couldn't tell what she was saying and started to panic, thinking she peed on the floor.  I ran in, only to find her sitting on the toilet.  When I asked what she said, her reply was, "Pumpernickel!" 

-Ada's ballet recital was last week.  Bountiful School of Ballet does an entire ballet for their recitals and this year it was The Sea Fantasy.  Ada and her classmates were clown fish.  She loved dressing up and wearing makeup, but her days as a ballerina are over.  She just didn't like going to class every week.  I have Ada and Kate both signed up for soccer in the fall, so we'll see if we can get a better response from that.

-I've started walking at night with some neighbors.  We walk at least three miles and try to improve our pace each time.  It's been good for me to get off my butt!  Hopefully I can finally shed some baby weight.

-Finally, some random pictures from my phone:

Sister tubby time!


Wearing their Mardi Gras beads from Ang & Hyrum


Tyler's masterpiece


Ada modeling her costume (more pics to come)


I  found this "wedding cake" that the girls created


Love that tongue!


Kate got a cold sore and wanted a Band-Aid over it





Lyla just loves her sisters