Cheesy chompers

Here are a few cheesy faces from Katie to show off her four most prominent teeth. I think they look very chipmunk-ish and seem to make her face a little chubbier. Either that or the fact that she is eating MUCH more solid foods has taken it's toll on her petite little frame. :)

She has three more that have broken through the gums but are still so tiny that they are not noticeable.

Settle a small dispute

I cannot find much help on the internet so can you please fill in the blank for me. Which lyric do you remember as a child for the Mr. Potato Head jingle?

"Mr. Potato Head,
and his bucket o' _____.
Buckets of fun for everyone."

Derek and I each recall something different and I think we bet a spicy chicken sandwich on what the actual word was. Your input would be appreciated.


On a side note: Katie took her first step last week. Today she did it again and stayed up and balanced afterwards. Making progress!

Ode to Galiftum and Fifsheese

For Christmas Katie got a baby doll from each of her grandmas. She likes them equally well, whichever is around she picks up and kisses and chews on a little. Ryan, on the other hand, has taken a particular liking to the doll from Grandma Cookies. (I think he likes that one because it came with a little bottle to feed her with.)

Some days he is in a very paternal mood and will carry the doll around or rock her with a blanket or put her in a little box as her bed.

I asked him what the baby's name was. He was a bit confused with the idea that he can name something and asked ME what her name was.
"You can pick one," I told him. "Whatever you want, you can choose."
After a long pause he said, "Baby Cow."
Sounds good to me.

He sticks with his name choice and always calls her Baby Cow. It reminds me of when Rachel named her dolls Galiftum and Fifsheese (Jana might correct me on how one would spell those names) and she regularly called them that. Ryan has also named Grandma Bayles' doll, Cow. Katie has one other baby. That one is Mama Cow. Creative, AND distinguishable. If only naming children were REALLY that easy.

Newest form of exercise (for Derek and I, not the kids)

I've been looking for a good way to get some exericise so we asked for a bike trailer for Christmas. That makes it possible for me to do something active AND have the kids with me. My Mom and Dad gave us Christmas money to go toward the trailer and requested that we blog pictures of the kids in it. So, here you go mom.

One complaint... the safety straps aren't very impressive. As you can see, it doesn't hold Katie in very securely and the straps connect WELL above her head. It was made for kids more like Ryan's size apparently. Though, you can see that his legs are getting long enough that he won't have more than a year's left of growth before he'll be too big for the thing. Still, they love it.

One small note: we found this one used on Craigslist for super-cheap (which is why it is less than perfect) and the Christmas money from my parents will INSTEAD go toward a different present. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Katie's just a month away from her 1st birthday.

I'm starting to see her as a toddler rather than a baby even though she isn't walking. She took 2 steps yesterday. I still think it will be 2 or 3 months before she's actually walking, but it was fun to see.

She has a little ride on/push car like Emma and will walk around the house with it. (Okay, I realize that she's only playing with her bracelet in this picture, but you get the point).


Here's another tongue picture for Jamie.


She climbs up onto the toilet seat.



She also claps her hands, waves goodbye, and occassionally signs, "milk" and "all done." My favorite is still when she says, "ba-bee" and means it.

A new haircut

A funny side note about these pictures - For the first picture I said, "Say 'cheese and crackers.'" The second one was, "Say 'cheese and pickles.'" SO, when I showed the pictures to Ryan on the computer he said, "Is this one "cheese and crackers?""

Balloons, balloons, who'll buy my balloons...?

On the top of my "wish list"

I don't expect anyone who isn't one of my sisters to understand why I am itching for this new book so terribly. It was just barely published in June and I've been emailing the folks at IAHP.org for the past year trying to get more info on how to teach my baby to swim. I can't bear the thought of buying a full priced book. Especially one I've never read before. It looks like I will have to go browse at a bookstore. Barnes and Noble, here I come!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

My first resolution was "Early to bed, early to rise." I want to become a morning person and finally get up and ready before everyone else wakes up. To be dressed and showered before my kids wake up, priceless. That being said, I resolved that there is no day like today and I went to bed after the new year rolled around in Australia. I was up before 6:00am. I resolve to make this a habit so that I can be sure to have some time to think, pray, read my scriptures, and shower before everyone gets up. Happy New Year!

Midlife Mom Crisis?

I've grown restless with my blog design and in an effort to personalize it, I've stumbled across a sort of crisis. I wanted to put some pictures of things that sort of define me or at least illustrate my interests and hobbies. Why do I draw such a blank?

I feel very happy right now in my life. I enjoy my kids so much - they are so often doing things that make me look at them and think, "I have such a nice family" and "Wow, I am really so lucky." I look at the things that I do in a typical day. A large amount of my time is spent feeding people and getting them to sleep. I am constantly behind in my housework. I have discovered that I am much poorer at keeping a clean house than I have previously given myself credit for. It is SO easy for me to put off cleaning when Ryan asks me to read him a book or it's a perfectly clear blue sky outside. I rarely get a break from being "Mom" but I'm also SO invested in the lives of my children that I cannot justify regular time away from them. This is why I cannot come up with a single hobby or interest. Well, that's not entirely true. I cannot come up with an un-pathetic interest. I am often thinking about what to feed my family. Is food an interest of mine? I am always looking for a good deal. Am I a shop-a-holic? I like to read. Who doesn't? Am I doing anything to broaden my horizons? Strengthen my character? Take opportunities for some "Me" time? Not often. Do I have any market-able skills? Do I scrapbook, sew, paint, knit, garden? Not really. I sound very pathetic to myself.

Maybe it comes from moving to a new place and becoming acclimated. I hope to discover something new about myself in the near future. Something positive, something interesting. I'd like to discover what might be a strength for me or some kind of talent that I can actually invest some energy in. Though frankly, I have sure learned a thing or two about myself since becoming a parent. I am not exactly main-stream which has actually surprised even me at times. Still, parenting seems to make us own up to our inconsistencies. I think differently than I did before. Maybe what I really want to be is this unselfish person who is more concerned about my children and their needs and their identities than my own. The rest will work itself out. Maybe in losing myself, I will find myself.

In the meantime... how do I pick some pictures for my blog header that seem to illustrate who I am? (rhetorical question)