The Quilters: August 2010

Once again, who is a slacker? That would be me. I can't tell you how many times I get on here only to realise there are so many other things that need my attention and my blog seems to come in last. Doesn't help that the boys think that when I get the laptop out it's suddenly time to be in mommy's face and ask over and over again, whatchya doin mommy? or try and get up in my lap. Oh those boys. Good thing I love them :)

Anyways, this last month has been full of joy and full of tears for me. Much has happened and I think I'm stronger for it. I've had a couple fairly personal trials that many know about but that I don't feel comfortable sharing with the world of blogging. By far the best news has been that my older sister has finally found the man of her dreams. Though this news came on the hardest day I had, it cheered me up so much and made such a dreary day so bright and wonderful.

We were able to make a quick weekend trip to Montana to meet the man and to see everyone together. For the first time since before my little brother went on his mission, the entire family was in the same place at the same time, even if it was for a few short hours. Unfortunatly we weren't able to get a picture of everyone because those hours were in the middle of the night. Despite the trip being a short one, we had a blast spending time together and I can't wait to see everyone again. It seems like we never get to see them enough and we savor it when we are able to spent some time with them.

As for a family update, we are doing well. The boys are growing and they seem to be thriving. Jackson is nearing the end of potty training and is now fully in underwear with little to no accidents daily. We don't have a problem with him going potty at night because he is somehow able to hold it until morning. Hopefully that means we'll skip the bedwetting and not have to worry too much about it. He is quite the chatterbox and will talk the ear off a donkey given the chance. I am still constantly amazed at what comes out of his mouth and I can tell his imagination is really starting to grow. He likes to pretend and will tell me really random things or give me imaginary objects and tell me what I need to do with them. His current favorite things are chewing on random things, riding his bike and getting into anything and everything he can reach, even if it means climbing to reach the desired objects. He is such a little smarty pants and thinks very much like a boy, if you know what I mean. He can count to 10(usually skips 5 though) and can sing the ABC's song(with some of the letters a little mushed together) but he is more physical in his thinking and learning. If he cannot reach something, he will find himself something to stand on or he will try to remove whatever is blocking his path. He knows exactly how to work the tv and the blu-ray player(though he's not supposed to touch either on) and he is always trying to figure out how to work the other electronics in our home. He is definatly a hands on learner and if he sees you do something, he will most definatly try to copy you. He is always asking me questions like "What are you doing, mommy?" or "What's that Mommy?" even when he already knows the answer. Like I was at his age, his curiosity is incredible and he wants to know about everything. I have a hard time keeping up with him sometimes and would love to find better ways to help his imagination and curiosity grow.

Can you tell he's so excited his quilt is FINALLY finished?

Owen is almost 18 months and had his first time in Nursery last Sunday. I was super occupied in Primary and only heard him crying once, but other than that he seemed to have a good time. I think it helps that big brother is in there with him for now. He isn't offically old enough until the beginning of September, but I was a little stressed and Jeff is usually late coming to get him from me before church. Like his big brother, Owen too likes to chat up a storm though his vocabulary obviously has a long way to go before much of what he says is recognizable as actual words. His favorite things are his belly button(he always has his finger in it) following his brother around and randomly emitting high pitched screams just to see what we'll do about it. He is definatly entering into the terrible two's and I have to deal with daily fits that consist of him throwing himself backwards with or without me there to make sure he doesn't wack his head on things. This is usually accompanied by the high pitch screaming as well and usually results in crying and more screaming or screetching when he does land on something harder than the floor. He is also trying to become sneaky and if he knows he has something he's not supposed to have, he will try to hide it from me or run away as fast as his chubbly little legs can take him. I know it probably shouldn't, but I find his little fits highly amusing and have a hard time keeping a straight face when I should be getting after him. He's just so cute I can't help it :)

Helping out on the farm

I seem to be almost unchanging in the way I do things. My body, on the other hand, is changing of it's own accord. Remember me talking about that dairy free diet I was on? Well, it turns out that avoiding dairy has done more for me that just helping me feel better and get though the day without intestinal upset. In the 3 months since I first decided to make the change I have lost about 25lbs. All the other things I have tried, the wieght loss tips, the working out, the eating less, none of it has given me the results I've been looking for and the one change that I was so dreading and that has by far been the hardest, was the one that has made all the difference. I can't tell you how good it feels to have someone I haven't seen in a while take a double look and say to me, "You look good, have you lost weight?" I honestly don't see the results when I look in the mirror and didn't even realise I'd lost that much until I stepped on the scale at the dr's office. I was shocked. Surprised. In awe that something seemingly so insignificant to others has imacted my life so thoroughly. I feel better. I'm able to wear clothes that have been hiding under the bed since before I had Jackson and Owen. The downside though is that all my other clothes seem to fall off my behind now. We went shopping for some summery clothes about 2 weeks after I quit eating all things dairy and couldn't understand why, after a few weeks, they all suddenly seemed to be too big. I guess I'll just have some clothes to wear after our next baby :) So all in all, it is more clear now that ever that blessings will come through trials, we just have to look for them sometimes. Oh and another change for me, I highlighted my hair, so now my hair color really matches my personality :)

As for Jeff, he is as hardworking as ever. Between work, church and school I feel lucky to even be able to say Hi to him somedays. Right now he isn't actually attending any classes, but he will be starting again soon. Since he was accepted to BYU-Idaho but we aren't able to move down there just yet, he is planning on taking some online classes for this fall. We are still waiting to hear if he has been accepted into the nursing program for January and we probably won't find out until mid-November at the soonest. It is frustrating not knowing where our lives are going to be heading in the next 6 months and it's really hard to make any definate plans when our answers seem to take a long time to come. I don't know what his plan is, but my tenitive plan is to be moving to Rexburg, Idaho come January. I'm not looking forward to moving a household of things in the dead of winter, but I don't think we'll have much choice. If anyone can help me out with apartment hunting, specifically for subsidized housing as neither of us will have a job when we get there, please let me know. I've found a few places online, but the information and pictures are hard to find and don't really give details. I figure we better get our applications in now so we'll have a place to move into if we do end up down there, which I really think we will. Anyways, I hope you all stay safe until I'm able to get on here again. Love you all and hope you are well. Thanks for reading my rantings :)