sneak peak at tomorrow's action...

Picture's only....well mostly.

Can you guess where we've been the last two weeks?

And by the way, aren't my kids so darn adorable?


















Dinner is always rather exciting these days. Ruby can't stand to miss out on the event so she's usually perched on the table in her bumbo, or on me or Dave's laps. Sol is all over the place. He stands on his char, he jumps in his chair. He tries to dish up more food. He tries to grab the salt, cries for the salt, tries to get the ice cubes out of my drink and then dad's drink. He slips ella some food, tries to feed us his food. And occasionally he'll take a few bites himself. Its crazy but fun. I like my family.

Oh, and we've been in Wyoming and Colorado visiting my parents and sister's fam. We had a ball!

guess who I ran into at TJ Maxx...

Well it was acutally just the dude and his first wife. They got in line behind me. I did a double take.

They were super nice, very sweet and charismatic. I asked them about doing the Oprah show mainly. They were happy to share. They seemed very normal. I found myself thinking "Who cares that you have 4 wives. If that's how you all like it then go right ahead."

Okay, I still think its bizarre. But kudos to them for being so darn nice and approachable.

Sweating with the swiss, rocking with the band, hiking with goblins, whitey tighties, and Ruby

I haven't been in blog mode lately, I guess I'm trying to get used to life with two kids. Not to mention life without auntie Michelle. She was here for the last 6 weeks doing a medical rotation for her Physician's Assistant schooling. She was such a huge help. Sol and Ruby were head over heals for her. So here are some highlights and pics from the last 6 weeks:

Swiss Days! So everyone rave's about Swiss Days in Midway Utah. We've missed it several times but this year we were able to go. "How was it," you ask?

This picture describes it well. It was HOT. And it was very crowded. Our kids nearly melted. And the lines for food were so long that we didn't get to try any of the food we'd heard so much about. The pie and ice cream were yummy.

The craft booths were amazing but again, they were SO crowded that we couldn't really look much.

We actually had to ride a shuttle to the event. Parking near the event was impossible to find.


We were able to cool down in the air conditioned basement while rocking as a band.

Sol sings...

And plays drums.

He's rather intense about the drumming.

Well, until he find something more fun to do with those sticks.

These are our groupies.


So on our way back from Lake Powell we stopped at Goblin Valley. We'd both heard about it but never been there. Its right off the road so we stopped to do some 'esploring.'

Dave got several awesome pics of Sol. He was in heaven here. Dirt, rocks, and lots of 'esplorin.'
I'm actually in this picture, can you find me?

I love his little hips in this pic. He's a boy on a mission.

Solomon the Giant.

Bliss

I haven't said much about Ruby. It's cause she's so awesome! She hardly ever cries. She's so happy and chill. I love this picture cause I have a picture of me at this age asleep on my dad's lap while he was also sleeping.

We also enjoyed a great day at the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point with friend Logan and his mom and bro.

Here are our white trash kids. :) We forgot swimies.

The huge sandbox ate up like an hour of time. We couldn't get the boys away from it!

And this last picture I took just today. Here's our sweet beautiful Ruby.

Sorry for the ultra long picture post. We're really enjoying life as four.

How to take a vacation if you only have 24 hours.

1. Drive to Lake Powell one evening after work. Get there about midnight.

2. Board a beautiful 73' house boat and get a great nights sleep. You're kids have to be amazing sleepers like mine. And a little benadryl helps too.

3. First thing in the morning leave the marina to find a place to park the boat and play.

NOTICE: This next step is important, if it's excluded you'll fail to complete your vacation in 24 hours.

4. While attempting to park the boat, the driver should accidentally hit some large rocks that are hidden well beneath the surface of the water.

5. Damage to the lovely houseboat should be significant enough that you'll hear the words "Grab the buckets boys, we're bailing water!"

6. Quickly repack your bags while the boat is towed back to the marina. Be sure to get off the boat when its at the dock before the pull it out of the water. Otherwise you'll be passing your babies down and scaling the side of the boat while its trailored. It will be at least 10 feet above your head.

7. Load up the car with babies and all your stuff, and head home. You should get home about 24 hours from the time you left the day before.

Unfortunately you won't have any pictures to show for your vacation as the excitement and adventures will keep you too busy to have time to get your camera out. But the memories will last forever.

Sad. We would have had such a fun weekend. Maybe next year. :(

For Grandmas... and anyone else who wants to bask in Ruby's beauty.

I got a CD full of pics from Tiffany (my good friend who took Ruby's newborn pics). I wanted Grandmas to be able to see them all so they could pick a few out they'd like to have printed. Here they are:


(you can click on the slideshow to view any of the pics up close)

Family.

So things are going good. I'm still on a postpartum high. I really missed my energy, my appetite, my ability to bend over, my ability to chase Sol, to hold him normally, to read him stories with him on my lap. I missed feeling like myself. I really missed being able to sleep under the covers with my hubby instead of sprawled out on top of the sheets with the ac blaring and a fan blowing on me while I still sweat. I missed my girly figure. There are lots of other things too.

But she was definitely worth it. I'd do it all again to get her here. To get to meet her, get to know her (we're still working on that). To look in her intense alert little blue eyes. To hear her purr while she sleeps. To kiss her delicious little chubby cheeks. And she's such a good baby. Really. She's amazing.

Poor little Sol really struggled as an infant. He had pretty severe acid reflux. His medication made it so he didn't scream 24/7 but he still was in a lot of pain. He had to be held a certain way, he had to be bounced almost constantly. As soon as he got a little older, around 6-8 months, he turned into a different child. He's been the easiest, most delightful kid since. But those first 6 months were really hard. I did not enjoy his infant stage. I was ready for a repeat with this baby as reflux runs in families. But Ruby is a totally different baby. She's been sleeping 6 hours a night for the last 2 weeks. She only gets up once, eats, and then goes back to bed. Its awesome! She does have a touch a reflux which I spotted right away (once you've suffered through it with one baby you can spot it easily) and got a pX for her. With the prevacid she is seriously the easiest baby ever. Thanks for that one Heavenly Father. I appreciate it so much.

Sol is struggling with the changes. He's having a hard time sharing the attention. He's been naughty, on purpose, to get attention. It makes me so sad cause he's such a good kid normally. He's showing some signs of frustration, not toward Ruby but toward me. In the past I've told so many of my friends in the same situation "Don't worry, every first child goes through this. In a few months he'll be back to his normal self." But right now I'd really like someone else to tell me the same thing. I just don't want it to change him forever, for the worse. I'd love to hear some words of encouragement, or advice.

So that's where things are today. Day 2 with 2 kids by myself. Its not so bad.

Actually today started out pretty rough. I woke up with a pounding headache. I have hypoglycemia and sometimes nursing totally depletes me. I got up twice to eat a snack last night and still woke up ravenously hungry. So this morning I loaded up the kids and went to McDonalds where I ate 1.5 McGrilddles and a large glass of ice water. I know, thats a lot of calories, but whatever. After letting Sol play for about 45 min we left for the grocery store for my first solo trip with Sol and Ruby. On my way out of the parking lot I backed into a white dodge stratus that tried to squeeze between me and another car right as I looked over my opposite shoulder. I didn't even feel the car hit because I was going so slow. None the less there was white paint on my bumper. Dang it.

My head was still pounding. By the time we got home from the store Ruby was starving so once I got her fed, and Sol fed and down for a nap I felt wasted. I took one of those giant motrins left over from the hospital and laid down with Ruby. After a little nap we're all much better.

Okay, now for the real reason I sat down to write this post...Family! We had lots of family around for the 2 weeks after Ruby was born. Dave's family had a sort of reunion planned during that time and so we decided to bless Ruby then so everyone could be there. Here are some pics of Dave's fam (minus Lisa :() one night that we hung out at uncle Mikes farm. It was so much fun! The weather was awesome and the chickens provided awesome entertainment for the kidos. And then some pics from Ruby's blessing day.



So life with 2 kids is not so bad. Not as hard as I thought it might be, but I know I'm just at the beginning.