How old are you!?

Today is a very special day at our house. Very special. Today is the day Holl-e-wood decided to make her appearance into the world. The world hasn't been the same since. In honor of her birthday, Holynd got to eat her toast on the couch, while playing with her sticker book. She also got to stick stickers in her hair and all over the furniture (and Sloanie). Later on today, Holynd will get to lunch with her dad and then she'll shop for her first big-girl bed.

Holynd is now two. She turned the world upside-down the minute she was born. Her outgoing personality can be seen and heard from miles away.

She loves: her grandparents, her sister, her kuncles, her aunts, coke (which is really sprite that we just tell her is coke), stickers, Yo Gabba Gabba, counting, singing, dancing, coloring on everything, saying prayers, going to nursery, talking A LOT, being the center of attention, showing off, going shopping, wearing shoes, getting dressed up, going to lunch, visiting her dad at work, rice, fries, apple juice, hair bows, throwing tantrums while grocery shopping, Buzz Lightyear, princesses, purses, tomatoes, grapes and much more. She's sweet, loud, a little obnoxious, smart and very loving.

She is my little college-baby. She went to college through my entire pregnancy and then watched me do homework everyday until her first birthday. She still gets upset every time I get my laptop out.

She also needs a haircut.

Just a Few....

WOW! Can you believe how fast the Christmas season is going by?! I'm loving every minute of it, especially since Holynd and Sloane are so much fun. Here are just a few things we've been up to.


Holynd loves "BUCKS!" she calls them. Money. She likes to dance around yelling, "Mine bucks!" I can't tell you how happy I am to just listen to her and her growing vocabulary. Another few of her favorite phrases, "Going to Walmart!", "Santa's home?", "Ugly bum!", "Ew! Nasty!", "Com'on in Kadee!", "Come in and eat Daddy!", "Go Jazz!", etc. etc. She can also count to 8... sort of-it usually goes something like this, "1,2,1,2,1,2,3,3,3,3,4,5,5,6,5,6,5,6,7,8,7,8,7,8.....so on and so on. She also loves to tell you, "Ready? Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!!!" and then races you until she decides it's time to start the race over, "Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!" She always wins too.


Matt and I were also lucky enough to go here and watch the Utes win against BYU. :)



Holynd has always loved Sloane, but recently, Sloane has really started to love Holynd back. Sloane is always constantly looking for her sister. She wants to be able to follow Holynd around so bad! It's only a matter of time before Holynd will have a constant companion. I'm not sure how long Holynd will enjoy it, but we'll see.


One of the things Sloanie has been up to is discovering her love for the University of Utah.

Oh! We did decorate our tree. This was before it was finished. We decided to add purple to our tree this year. Matt says that purple isn't a Christmas color, but that didn't stop us! Out with tradition we say! Out!

Hello again little Sloanie! You are so cute in your little walker. This is Sloane's only way of being able to follow her sister around.

I'm getting sad to think that, in a few days, I'll have to introduce Sloane to "solid" food. :( We will begin to cut away at the nursing ties. I think Sloane will put up a fight, but secretly, I don't really care too much. She's my little balonie and I want her to stay small forever. It will be kinda nice to be able to get back to the temple, since Sloanie can't go more then a couple of hours without her mommy. It'll also be nice to go out with Matt and not have to watch the clock. I'll probably secretly cry when she does start to like food. I'll bawl when she's ready to ween.

We're almost done Christmas shopping. My girls are actually pretty decent shoppers. They like to ride in "The Snot" and go to the mall, especially when we're shopping for them! I can't wait for Christmas morning!

Sloane vs. Shopping Cart

(Caution: You heart may melt while looking at photo.)

I've gotten pretty used to getting two kids in and out of the car. It's no longer a huge ordeal like it was when Sloane first came home. Even though we don't have a garage or anything and we have to walk up and down two flights of stairs to get to and from our door, I hardly think about it anymore. However, yesterday, one of my worst nightmares came true.

The girls and I ventured to Target for a small shopping trip. Just something to get us out of the house and break-up the day a little. We found some fun deals and had a good time. When we walked out of the store, the weather had turned kind of yucky. It was really cold and the wind had kicked up. I walked quickly to the Scion and took Holynd out of the cart, leaving little Sloanie snuggled up in her carseat, riding on the "passenger" part of the cart. Holynd was content playing with her new fake food she got at Target while I was buckling her in her carseat.

All the sudden, Holynd's face turned grey... Her eyes got really wide and she looked at me and said, "Mommy! Uh-oh! Sloanie gone!". I looked over at the spot where I had left my cart. It was vacant.

My eyes immediately lept over to the image of my 5 month old baby riding on a run away cart. The wind had caught the cart perfectly sending my baby across the parking lot at a steady 45 miles per hour. (Ok, maybe not that fast. But to me it seemed that way!) I took off running as fast as my boots could carry me. (Saying many swear words as I ran. Like, that would help anything!) I caught her right after she slammed into another car.

I expected tears and terrified sobbing, but my stone-faced, even-tempered Sloanie looked up at me with the same content face she has 90% of the time.... She gave me a small grin as if to say, "I knew you'd come for me mom. I wasn't worried". I took a deep-breath, tripled checked for any damage to the car (None, thank goodness!) and carefully put my baby into the car. Holynd, who watched the whole thing from her carseat was more upset then Sloanie!

I got into the car and sat there... What do I do now? Do I wait for this car owner to tell them what happened?! They don't teach you this stuff in driver's ed! So, I did the best thing I could think of at that moment. I called my husband, who proceeded to laugh hysterically at the entire story and told me to calm down and go home.

This experience may completely change the way I put kids in the car for the rest of my life.

Cycles...

In the life of a mother, there are many never-ending cycles. Laundry for instance, is one of those cycles. I've learned to cope with situations like your husband bringing you a shirt that he needs washed right after you've already started the last load of colors. In these situations, I try to do my best to just smile and go on with life, usually by taking the shirt and shoving it into the washing machine while it's going. (Same with dishes, it always seems like I find one forgotten dish right after I start the dishwasher... Just open the dang thing and throw the dish in mid-wash. IT'S FINE!)



Babies grow so fast that it seems like as soon as I learn to cope with one of their current challenges (drinking all the tub water during baths, wiping poop all over their cribs during naptime, puking as soon as their dressed...) another challenge creeps up. The never-ending child-challenge-cycle, so to speak.



One of my latest challenges is the "portable microwave". Remember the kitchen Holynd was given a few weeks ago??? Well, for some reason, she thinks it's awesome to take the microwave off the top and carry it around the house. Normally I wouldn't mind... but she can't get the thing back on! And, she insists on throwing a tiny fit everytime she fails on snapping the microwave back on the kitchen.

I really don't mind fixing it for her, but she always seems to want it on while I'm in the middle of changing, feeding or bathing little Sloanie. So, I've been asking myself, coincidence or cry for attention? I'm going to go with the third option: MAKE HUSBAND SCREW THE MICROWAVE TO THE KITCHEN SO IT DOESN'T COME OFF AT ALL.

Sometimes in motherhood, we give ourselves our own challenges. I had been on the hunt for alphabet letters for my fridge. Holynd loves stickers and I thought this would be an easy way to keep a "sticker-like" object on hand. Sunday morning, Holynd awoke to find the magnets stuck all over the fridge. She then proceeded to throw them all over the floor and at her dad... Awesome. Matt came into the bedroom where, I was still trying to get myself out of bed.

Matt: Holynd likes the alphabet letters.

Me: She does?!

Matt: Yeah, she's been throwing them at me. They're everywhere.

Me: So what are you saying?

Matt: I'm saying you probably just bought yourself a $2.00 headache.

Me: Awesome...

Sometimes the child fixes the problem for you by just eliminating the object of annoyance all together... Here on my hopechest sits a candleholder that my mom gave me at my bridal shower. Holynd is obsessed with the red candles that usually occupy the little glass holders. I've picked up these candles THOUSANDS of times. Being the stubborn person that I am, I was determined to keep my candleholder where I wanted it. Well, Holynd finally decided I needed some help getting over the candle issue. The other day, Matt and I settled down in our bed for the night. I rolled over to see a candleholder, vacant of it's little red candles.

Me: Matt, where are my candles?

Matt: No idea.

Me: Oh well, they'll turn up.

Never did.

:)

I do, however, believe that some challenges just deserve some good 'ole childproofing.

Dearest Husband,

While you secure the microwave to the kitchen, could you give some thought to childproofing the bowl cupboard and the doorknob for me?? (Maybe also the oven and fridge, just to be on the safe side?)

Lots of love,

Wife.

Mr Clean, Thank you for existing.

We've been trying to come up with fun things to do now that the weather is cold. One of Holynd's favorite things to do is color, but coloring in a tiny coloring book gets old really fast! Sometimes coloring is a lot more fun when you can color on the wall.



Holynd spent a good hour coloring on the "wall". I'm pretty sure I'll have to wait for bedtime to come around before I can take this down.


Since little hands have a hard time staying on the "wall" paper, I'm making sure that this Thanksgiving I give thanks for Mr Clean and his magic erasers. I'm also thankful for my husband who makes sure to have extra paint handy just in case some things can't be cleaned off.

I've been reading more lately now that we can't venture outside as much. My dad gave me a book to read which I've really been enjoying, "Broken Things to Mend" by Jeffrey R. Holland. I wanted to quote a few passages that I need to remember. Maybe it will give someone the lift they need today, or maybe it will be something I need to have record of for the future.

"The first words Jesus spoke in His majestic Sermon on the Mount were to the troubled, the discouraged and downhearted. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Many people are facing personal trials and family struggles, enduring conflicts fought in the lonely foxholes of the heart, trying to hold back floodwaters of despair that sometimes wash over us like a tsunami of the soul.... To all such I offer the surest and sweetest remedy that I know. It is found in clarison call the Savior of the world Himself gave. He said it in the beginning of His ministry, and He said it in the end. He said it to believers, and He said it to those who were not so sure. He said to everyone, whatever their personal problems might be: 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls' (Matthew 11:28-29)."

"In speaking of mothers generally, I especially wish to praise and encourage young mothers. The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. The young years are often those when either husband or wife -or both- may still be in school or in those earliest and leanest stages of developing the husband's breadwinning capacities. Finances fluctuate daily between low and nonexistent.... Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other times in life. It is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes vaguely resemble the state of Rhode Island... Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. "

Happy fall everyone! It seems to be coming to a close. We are starting to see signs of winter almost everyday now.

Season of Joy

My little Sloane-Izzie is very healthy. I'm so thankful for her and her developing personality. I knew when I was pregnant with her that she was different. She seemed so mellow. She has proven to be completely opposite from her sister. They may look similar, but they are completely different in many ways. Holynd was always barely on the charts at the doctor. Sloane is still hanging on to the 95th percentile in height, 70th in weight and 60th in head circumference.

She my little chubby-chubs.

Holynd would always take a bottle when needed. Sloane will hate you for a week if you try and stick a bottle in her mouth. Holynd slept in a bouncey chair for the first 7 months of her life. Sloane has preferred her crib from the beginning. Holynd HATES the car. Sloane loves to go on drives. Holynd never drooled. Sloane... well, she's a drooler. Holynd is dramatic, loud, excited, crazy, social and talkative. Sloane is quiet, reserved, content, shy and loves to be cuddled.

Sloane also has this weird long hair and likes to stick straight up. Not sure what to do about that.

Life at the Peterson household has fallen into a pretty consistent pattern. We are definitely loving our little season of joy. Matt's new job is going really well. He's loving school and is finding it easier to study now that work is consistent and successful. Sloane is completely over her nightly colic. Holynd is, well, hilarious.

We're trying hard to find time to do the "little things", scripture study, FHE, family prayer and even dates for just mom and dad. ;) Now that a lot of stresses are taken care of, we're trying to keep ourselves in-check and plan for the future. I don't think any babies are in our near future... but maybe a house or a yard would be nice :). (Not too soon though. I'm not ready to have a driveway that I (By "I" I mean "Matt") would have to shovel or a lawn to mow. HEHE! I'm also not very ready to have to leave neighbors and friends.)

I'm trying hard to not forget what we learned from our recent trials. I'm definitely more grateful for everything I have. A year ago, if you had asked, I would've told you that I would never be grateful for the things I had to go through to get to where we are today. Now, I'm overly thankful for those trials that we were given.

a cow jumping over the moon...

...and three little bears sitting on chairs, and three little kittens and a pair of mittens....



Goodnight Moon is a favorite in our household. We read it probably 3 or 4 times a week. I have it and "Do You See a Monster?" memorized. I finally caught Holynd on video "reading" Goodnight Moon. If you happen to not notice, the balloon is her favorite item in the book.







Dad surprised us this week by bringing home Toy Story 3. In honor of this event, Holynd had to wear her Buzz jammies three nights in a row. It was probably the most exciting thing to happen. Maybe even more exciting than Halloween.






Yes, I bought my little girl "boy" pajamas. Sue me.



While I was watching Toy Story 3 with Holynd, I kept thinking, who would actually consider taking their old toys with them when they left home? Then it hit me. I did. I still have the teddy bear I got when I had my tonsils taken out. (Did I just blog that?!) His name is Squeaky. He doesn't actually squeak, he's just a regular old (really old!) teddy bear. His head has been sewn back on several different times, but Holynd now carries him everywhere. :) As I type, Holynd is snuggled in her bed with that teddy bear. I'm now glad that I kept Squeaky tucked away in my hope chest all these years.



I also realized this week that poor Sloanie has a terrible mother. I always made sure Holynd made it to her doctors appointments on the early possible day she could go. She religiously received her immunizations on the 28th every two months from the day she was born. Poor Sloanie turned 4 months old on the 18th of Oct and has yet to go to her four month check-up. (Terrible! Terrible me!) I've rescheduled twice. But! She has an appointment this Tuesday and I will take her and I will immediately update on her growth afterwards. She was in the 95th percentiles for both height and weight last appointment. I have an inkling that she's slimmed down a little, but not too much. Sloanie is wearing the clothes her older sister wore last fall... Weird! I bet you can guess which parent she takes after and which parent Holynd takes after. (Sorry Holynd, you'll still be shopping out of the little girls section when you're in Junior High).

I finally ventured back to Walmart with the kids by myself. It was pretty bad. Holynd refused to ride in the cart and Sloane decided she wanted to cry uncontrollably through the whole trip. Holynd kept grabbing things off of shelves and then would tell me "NO! NO! NO!" when I would put them back. (Go figure.) I was a little discouraged because I was not one of those super-moms who could calm their kids down with one quiet phrase, but I found quote someone had posted and it made me really happy.

"I'd rather have my hands full than empty".

(I'm thinking I need to write this on my arm every Sunday before church. My kids don't love church very much. If the truth be known, I have to sing the Dora, "We did it!" song every Sunday after we come home-just a little celebration for us surviving another Sunday.)

Mmmewwwwwwww!

Before I had kids, my favorite season was summer. Now that I have my babies, I love this time of year. Fall. To be even more exact, I love the time from the first of September until Christmas. I'm so excited to have Sloane around this year. I'm also excited to see how Holynd responds to Thanksgiving and Santa. (Too keep the list going, I'm really excited to NOT be pregnant during the holidays... I need a break from getting sick after Thanksgiving. I'd also like to do my Christmas shopping without 100 potty breaks per hour!)

I had a blast shopping for Halloween costumes. It was fun to be able to buy from the infant costumes and toddler costumes. Partyland has been my favorite costume store so far. (Maybe I shouldn't have told!)

I couldn't decide if I wanted Sloane and Holynd to be dressed alike, or be dressed completely different. Holynd kept telling me that she wanted to be something "scare-ney!", but I figured I would use my mom-power one more year and dress her the way I wanted her to dress. ;)

Sloane was our little lamb.




Holynd was our moo-cow. She loved walking around the house saying, "MMMMmmmeeeewww!" If the truth be told, I've had to hide the costume because it was being worn almost everyday.

Now I am busy trying to decide what the girls will get for Christmas this year. I know a lot of people love to have their shopping done early, (which is awesome!!) but I'm a sucker for the Christmas shopping experience. Yes, I love the crowds; I love the long lines; I love the Christmas music.... the list goes on. So, in the Peterson household, Christmas shopping does not start until after Thanksgiving. However, I have tried in previous years to put my Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving and Matt always stops me. Matt loves Thanksgiving and hates that Christmas is taking over the month of November. :) (I'm also debating as to whether or not I want new Christmas decor.... I think I've been pretty good about not spending money on Christmas decorations for the last two years, I may deserve some new Christmas decorations. I'm thinking purple and silver....)

I'll hold off putting up the Christmas decorations just for my husband. I'm pretty sure he's worth a few extra days of waiting.

(Husband, new Christmas decorations... Hint Hint!)

Speaking. By Holynd

Holynd is getting better and better at talking all the time. She's forming sentences and it seems like everyday she says something new. She makes an attempt at saying any new word that she hears. It's pretty entertaining, especially with Halloween right around the corner. She hears a lot of new Halloween words each day.

Some of the most memorable phrases:

"Sloanie, air are you???? Oh! Found you!"

"Mommy! Bunny is lost!"

"Let's go on walk."

"It's ok Sloane... Need to go a night-night."

"Say prayers. Haley Favor, Amen!"

"Com'on Sloanie. Time to go!"

"Oh mommy! Punkin so cute!"

"Mommy! See the scare-ney!"

***And my ultimate favorite!****

(After getting up from her nap.)

"Daddy! Air are you!? Daddy? DDDDaaaaddddddyyyy?! Oh mommy, daddy still at work!"

Itches!!!

First things first, did you hear about this?!? Matt got me this gift for our anniversary. It's our blog, in book-form. Pretty snazzy! I was really surprised, especially since I've picked out most of my anniversary gifts myself. ;) Thank you husband!

****

It just wouldn't be Halloween without a trip to Gardner's Village. I love the shoppes and Matt loves fudge, so it all works out. Holynd kept calling out "Itches!" and pointing to the witch on her shirt. It's a lot of fun to have her get excited for Halloween.

We went on a hayride to the witches' house! It was a lot of fun, but Holynd mostly loved the goats. The fact that women were walking around completely decked-out in witch-attire had no affect on my little Holynd. Go figure.

(Goats are way more interesting then witches.)

Sloane remained completely unamused by the entire trip, but it was fun to have an excuse to have the girls wear fun Halloween shirts.

****

We've had a hard time deciding what to do about Holynd and her birthday. Since it's three shorts days after Christmas, we feel bad that she only get gifts once-a-year. We're thinking about having a half-birthday celebration when she gets a little older, but for now, we've just decided that a random gift here-or-there can't hurt her. ;)

She loves her new kitchen.

Survival of the Fittest!

We went to Arizona over the weekend for Aunt-T's wedding open house! It was a quick trip, drive down Friday, stay over Saturday and drive home Sunday. It was difficult, but not nearly as hard as we thought it would be. The girls were actually pretty awesome through the whole thing. We did have one carsick-incident, in which our rental car got covered in vomit, but after re-grouping in Page, AZ, we were back on our way!

Sloanie has become an avid thumb-sucker. I have a love-hate relationship with this habit of hers. It was especially nice on our trip because she could suck her thumb when she would get upset during the car ride. However, her thumb is getting really red and even has a blister... Not sure what to do about it. :)

Anyone a fan of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives???? WE ARE!!!! We had to visit one of Guy's picks and so with a handy "Guy Ate Here" app on our phones, we were able to find somewhere Guy Fieri had visited! We chose Joe's Farm Grill! It was amazing!

I got the Grilled Vegetable Pizza, which was one of the best things on the planet!

Matt got an Ahi Tuna Burger with Garlic French Fries! Oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

This picture captures one of the miracles that occurred during our trip! The girls slept through our little Joe Farm Grill visit! Pretty sure it's the first time something like this has happened in the history of double-strollers!

We did visit the Mesa Temple while we were there! It's very pretty and seems to have a lot of history. We went to the Distribution Center nearby and bought Holynd her first CTR ring. It lasted about five minutes and hasn't been seen or heard from since. :)

There were Orange Trees all over the temple grounds! That would be so cool to be able to pick yourself an orange after attending a session.

Holynd kept putting blankets over her head to block out the sun during the long car rides.

****

The following videos are just somethings I captured around our house. Holynd loves to help me clean and I tried all morning long to get a video of her "mopping" and singing the "Clean-Up!" song. This was all I got.

Then after I gave up trying to capture the cleaning, she ran to the window because she thought she saw Matt pull up. Whenever she sees him, she wants me to open the deck door for her, so she can run out and greet him. So this video is of her begging to see her dad. Oh, by the way, she is now calling Matt by his first name. Matt hates it, so no one is aloud to call him "Matt" in Holynd's presence. He must be called "dad" at all times! :)

Lastly, today is Matt and I's 3rd wedding anniversary... Three years of marriage, two kids and way too many blessings to count! I love you husband!

Two Weeks of Learning

I'd like to record a few things that I've learned the past few weeks. My babies are only 17 months apart, but when Sloane was born, I felt totally overwhelmed and confused all over again. I had forgotten what a newborn baby was like in a short amount of time. Hopefully if I record these experiences, I will remember them better for future reference.

*Babies will always looks very angelic on their blessing day.

*Some kids will go through a phase where they think their stuffed animals need to wear diapers.

*Iggy's gives a sundae with their Chicken Strips kids' meal. Holynd is now a huge fan of Iggy's, much to her dad's liking.



*Children learn, very early in life, how to take pictures of themselves with your camera-phone.

*Wood chips eaten at the playground will partially digest and cause much pain and crying about 12 hours later.

*Stuffed animals, which are completely submerged in the tub, can be saved by being immediately put in a spin cycle and then dried. (Thank goodness for my fancy Bounce Dryer Bar! "Bunny" came out of the dryer very soft and smelling amazing.)

*4 month olds, who are somehow fed raisins, will not be able to digest them. They will make terrible grunting sounds about 12 hours later.

*Wood chips will also cause terrible diaper rash, which will lead to children vacating their diapers and peeing all over the hallway.

*The people at Poison Control are very nice. They do not call and tattle on you to Family Services for accidentally letting your child eat your stick of deodorant.

*When children eat deodorant, they may get terrible stomach aches, until they are taken to Iggy's and given their free Sundae.

*Children who are not used to riding an escalator, may tumble down the escalator unless watched closely. (In our defense, Holynd insisted on getting on the escalator by herself.)

*4 month olds, will demand to be in their older siblings presence at all times. Older siblings are hilarious to babies.

The Day of the Jam

These pictures have nothing to do with "The Day of the Jam". I just thought they we're cute.



Holynd has decided that she needs to have a platform to stand on while she watches Diego. I'm still not sure why.



I have delegated grocery shopping to Matt for the time being. You may remember me mentioning that grocery shopping was a little difficult with two babies. But last week, it reached a whole new level.

You must understand, I have to have Holynd ride in the "main-cart" part of the cart and Sloanie has to ride on the seat in her carseat. It's a little difficult and takes a lot of talent to stack the groceries so that nothing gets squished by other groceries or Holynd.

The first thing I always get at Wal-mart is fruit. Now, Holynd loves fruit, so I usually have to have Sloanie "hold the fruit". (Meaning the fruit rides up on the seat with Sloanie. Don't worry, she thinks it's really funny to sit with the grapes in her carseat.) After, fruit and other produce, we usually work our way to the back of the store, saving diapers (we ALWAYS need diapers) for last.

This day however, the system completely collapsed. Holynd decided to throw a glass jar of jam out of the cart. I was so distraught when glass flew everywhere and jam spilled all over the floor that my logical thinking skills went completely out the window! Instead of just leaving the mess, finding an employee and reporting the mess. I decided to pick up as much as I could, with my bare hands, and clean it up myself. (HUGE MISTAKE). After I gathered up as much glass and jam as I could with baby wipes. I started stirring my car with my elbows, holding most of the jam mess over Sloane and the grapes. (ANOTHER HUGE MISTAKE!) Luckily, I held on to almost all the glass, but the jam kept oozing between my fingers and onto my baby/grapes. An employee finally spotted me and came to the rescue. (THANK YOU!) She helped me clean up as best as she could, but Sloanie had started to get upset and I knew we had to get shopping done quickly so I could feed her. Poor Sloanie was so sticky and so was the bag of grapes I had put up front with her.

I kicked into hyper-drive-grocery-shopping. I'm sorry to all those who were shopping that same day, because (I admit) I was rude and kept cutting people off with my cart.

At this point, Holynd also got upset and was begging that I open the box of fruit snacks. Deciding that I was beyond desperate I opened the box and gave her a package of fruit snacks. That kept her content for all of five seconds and she decided to spill the box of fruit snacks onto the floor. I was close to my breaking point, so I gathered up the fruit snacks that were close by and kept walking. Yes, I bought a half-full box of fruit snacks.

I finally reached the checkout stand. Sloanie had reached complete meltdown and Holynd had now decided she needed a bag of cheetos. I grabbed the bag of cheetos, asked the cashier to scan them and tore the bag open. Luckily, this kept Holynd happy for the remainder of our shopping trip.

The cashier, proceeded to scan all the groceries and finally got to the sticky bag of grapes. I had tried to clean off the bag of grapes, but it was a lost cause. After scanning the sticky bag of grapes, the cashier then began a 5 minute hand cleaning regime because of the sticky bag. (HELLO! Can you not see my infant screaming her head off?! It's just jam!) After the hand cleaning regime was complete, the cashier then thought it was necessary to call over another employee and state that, "Something has got to be wrong in the produce department, the bags of grapes are sticky or something!".

I. NEARLY. DIED.

I paid and walked out as fast as I could.

I have not been back.

Once the embarrassment finally subsides, I may continue doing the grocery shopping.

Bebe Soto

I love the tender little moments that make you so extremely happy that you had kids.

The other night, I was on my way home from my mom's. It was really late. Both girls were exhausted. Holynd started crying immediately after I started the car and Sloane, who is usually my best traveller, started screaming shortly after...

To my surprise, Holynd reached over to her sister's carseat and said, "It ok my bebe soto. It ok. Shh, shh, shhhhh." Holynd repeated this over and over, until finally Holynd fell asleep. Sloanie continued to fuss the entire way home, but it was bearable because Holynd was so sweet.

It reminded me of how, when separated, my little brothers used to beg to call each other. They couldn't stand being apart.

PS: Bebe Soto = Baby Sister

Check Your Pulse!

If these pictures don't make you smile... Check your pulse, 'cause you may be dead!


Best Friends! Holynd and Sloane watching Monsters Inc. for the umpteenth time this week!



Sloanie's smile! She's starting to warm-up to life here on earth. :) P.S. Sloanie has been blessed with razor sharp fingernails, I have to constantly trim them. The scratch on her cheek is from two days of fingernail neglect.

As I write this post, I keep looking around my house. It's a disaster. There are toys everywhere. (99.9% of them are pink!) Holynd has dripped apple juice all over the floor from her sippy cup; there's medicine on the couch 'cause Sloane hates the taste, but has to have it to fight a slight fever; Holynd ripped one of her books apart while I changed Sloane this morning and the remnants are scattered all over the house; and, in order to take a shower this morning, I had to let Holynd color all over the bathroom with a tub-crayon.

I've figured out that it takes me about 75 minutes to clean the living room and kitchen and about 6 for it to get dirty.

11 weeks and one day ago my house was spotless, everything was organized, Holynd would've never had the chance to rip up a book, dinner was on the table the moment Matt walked in the door and grocery shopping wasn't nearly as traumatic as it is now.

But, in the last 11 weeks and one day, I have realized that clean houses are overrated, books are replaceable, Matt doesn't mind waiting a half hour for dinner to be finished, tub-crayon comes off walls easier then regular crayon and even though people think I'm crazy for having two kids 17 months apart... I love every minute. :)

I've also learned that getting kids ready and somewhere on time is an art. And, grocery shopping with young children should be an Olympic event! Swimmers, gymnasts and bob-sledders have nothing on a mom, at wal-mart with little kids!

(If I hurry, I may be able to enjoy 15 minutes of spotless floors before the girls wake-up!)

Today...

Today, Holynd woke up with a runny nose. I didn't really worry about it. She acted fine.

After her nap, she was no longer fine. She had goopey eyes, scratchy throat and a cough. I sat her on the counter and began to look through my medicine cabinet for tylenol and eye drops.

She decided it would a perfect time to take a one bite out of each peach in the fruit bowl.

Then, she decided that peaches were NOT good and spit out everything.

Awesome.

Later on, Holynd kept whining for cereal. Since Matt was working late and Holynd didn't feel good, I figured cereal for dinner was ok for tonight. Well, because of Holynd's awful mood, she didn't want to sit in her high chair. So, I wrapped her in a blanket, sat her next to me on the couch and spoon-fed her cereal. (She must be really sick if she let me feed her). All was fine until she sneezed and cereal/snot went everywhere, including on Sloane, who was sitting in her chair, right in the line of fire. Sloane got upset and started to cry. Holynd, thinking she had done something really wrong, started to cry too. Sloane got over it quickly, but Holynd had to be given candy to be calmed down.

Dearest Husband,

We need more fruit.

(See Above).

I also need a date night.

Love,

Wife

P.S. Our kids are even cute when they're sick and/or covered in snotty cereal.

Some Things That Made Me Laugh...

Yesterday, we were getting ready for church, when we noticed that the toothpaste had went missing. Matt looked all over our bathroom, our room and Holynd's bathroom. No toothpaste. We never did find the toothpaste.

However, this morning the toothpaste showed up.


How interesting that Holynd had no problem finding the toothpaste when she wanted to.


Sloanie is a funny little baby. She's very serious and likes to play the "distress" card a lot. I am 100% sure that my baby has to cutest frowny face in the entire world. This picture makes me laugh because she's wearing some of her sister's Ute gear. Holynd wore this at the beginning of the football season last year... She was about 7-8 months old. Sloanie is just over 10 weeks old.

She's big. 90th percentile-for both weight and height. She's going to be able to carry Holynd around in a few months. Poor little Holynd the Peanut.

I also love that Holynd likes to "talk" to me on her "phone", which just happens to be an old flip phone. She makes me hold my phone to my ear as she walks around the house jib-jabbing in her own little language. She "talks" to me until I say something like, "Holynd. It's bedtime. Are you ready for night-night?" Then she closes the flip phone abruptly like she's hanging up on me. Awesome.

Holynd really likes to play with Sloanie. She makes Sloanie "pretend" to eat her fake food. Holynd gets really mad at Sloanie for not making the appropriate smacking noises. For a while, I could make the smacking noises for Sloanie, but Holynd caught on. If I make any noise on behalf of Sloanie, Holynd tells me, "No Mommy!"

Holynd surprised us all the other night by revealing a new favorite food. Now, for as long as I can remember my favorite food has been tomatoes. Yep, tomatoes. I can eat 'em like apples. Don't even need salt. Holynd has made me so proud with her love of tomatoes. She can't get enough. She'd rather have a tomato over a cookie. She even likes salsa! :) She sat at the dinner table eating a plateful of grape tomatoes. We're going to be so sad when tomato season is over!

The other night, there was pesky fly in our house. Usually Matt is the fly-catcher, mainly because he can catch them in his hands. It's quite entertaining watching him catch the fly and then throw it against the ground as hard as he can to kill it. However, Matt was not home to be my fly-catcher and since I think that touching bugs is disgusting, I opted to use my dishcloth to swat the fly. Holynd watched as I swatted the fly and killed it with one whack. She looked at me with a really weird look on her face and then said, "Uh oh! Died!".

Since dad started school this week, he's no longer the one who gets Holynd out of bed. This morning when I went to get her out of bed, she laughed and said, "No mommy! Daddy!". It made me a little sad because I know she misses her dad, but I love that she knows when something is different.

Sloanie is really really close to laughing, but right now she mostly makes a weird hiccuping-gasping sound. It kinda freaks me out because she does it so loud. She likes to be propped-up on her boppy pillow watching Holynd play. She gets really excited watching Holynd play and makes this sound. I can hear it all over the house and every time she does it I have to run in to make sure she's ok. It makes me smile when I walk into the room and I see that Holynd is already there saying, "Ok, Sloanie!? Ok, Sloanie?!" Holynd gets very concerned.

Holynd is in love with the trampoline at G-Ma's. She gets on the tramp and jumps while screaming, "One, Two, Three, GO!" and then plops onto her bum. She thinks she's really really tricky. :) Sometimes, the kuncles think it's fun to run water all over the trampoline so that Holynd gets soaked, but that doesn't stop little Holl-e-wood!

Just some stories I wanted to write down before I forget. :)