I LOVE 12 Months!

Paige cracks me up! She is developing her personality, and it is hilarious! The other day, Greg was changing her diaper, and she had a little diaper rash. She was crying because she didn't want him to change her. He was holding her down, and she was looking for me and crying, "Ma, ma...Ma, ma." I loved it!

The other night, she was wandering around the house...found this lovely beaded necklace and put it on...looked in her diaper bag (she loves to pull purses and bags apart)...found some snacks...managed to get the lid off...walked around with the bottle tucked under her arm (she loves to hold a bottle or something while she walks)...noticed that some snacks fell on the ground...took some snacks out...attempted to put the lid back on...all while concentrating and just enjoying her freedom. I just enjoyed watching from the sidelines. It is so fun to watch babies learn.

She loves to brush her hair. Sometimes she brushes it with a comb (upside-down, of course), and sometimes she brushes it with a toothbrush. I especially like it when she brushes her teeth first and then her hair. Her slobber acts as a gel. Don't you just love her facial expression - she's concentrating so hard! Paige loves to back up and sit down on things. She's just so content sitting on the bottom stair or a little bench or our laps. It's a crack-up to watch. She looks like she should beep as she backs into her chair of choice.
Her new thing is trying to swallow the water as it comes out of the tap. It is so much fun to watch. She opens her mouth, then leans in, and acts like she's surprised when the water hits her face. When she recovers, she laughs and does it again. And I love to watch her try to "catch" the water.

Paige - You bring so much joy into my life. I love just watching you! Don't you just LOVE this stage! I could always have a 12-month-old in my home!

Living with kids is...

...so enlightening. The other day, Macy said, "Mom...I almost throwed up." I said, "That's gross. How did that happen?" Her answer: "When I burped, a little bit of throw up came into my mouth. But then I swallowed it." Thanks, Babe. Good to know.

A Cry for Parenting Help

Okay...I won't go into the gorey details, but we caught Austin in a lie. He came home from school on Tuesday and I asked if he earned a Computer Coupon. He told me "no" and proceeded to tell me that Seth (a boy in his class) had goofed off when they went swimming. His teacher, Miss Karen, thought it was Austin, but it was really Seth. I had my doubts from the beginning, but I also knew that Miss Karen would not have been in the boys locker room. So, I asked him several times if this was the absolute truth. Finally, I looked at him and said, "Austin...I need you to tell me the truth. I will believe you no matter what you say. But, the most important thing is that you tell me the truth." He told me that it was honestly all Seth. I believed him and had forgotten all about it.

Yesterday, I went to help out in his class. Another child, Carson, came up to me and told me what Austin had done at swimming yesterday. Ironically, Carson described exactly what Austin said Seth had done. Austin was in another group, so he didn't hear Carson tell me this information. About 3 minutes after Austin got home from school, he and Macy got into a shouting match in her room and woke Paige up (again) after only about an hour nap. They both got sent to their rooms to sit on their beds while I taught piano. During a break, I went into Austin's room and told him what Carson had told me. He immediately put his face into his hands. This is when my heart broke for him because I knew he had lied. My next piano lesson showed up, and I told him I would come back later. When I walked in his room, I asked him if he was ready to talk. He put his face in his hands again (he couldn't even look at me) and said, "Carson was right." I asked him why he lied, and he explained that he didn't want to get in trouble. I told him that he was in a lot more trouble now.

When Greg came home, he explained that he was very angry (when I feel empathy, Greg is livid; when I am livid; Greg feels empathy - it works out well), but we were going to sit down and enjoy dinner. After dinner, Greg talked to Austin about what it means to lie and that it comes from Satan. Austin came up to me, hugged me and said he was sorry. I told him he had done a really stupid thing, and he is going to have to work really hard to earn back the trust that he lost. I explained that we will always love him - he doesn't have earn love. But, trust is something that he does have to earn. He walked away, then came right back. He put his arms around me and said, "Mom, I'm not just normal sorry; I'm really, really, really sorry." And my heart broke again.

Here's the dilemma - What do I do now? I know he feels sorry, but I think it's more about getting caught. I want him to learn this really tough lesson at 6. I want it to have an impact on him. We can deal with anything - but not lying! Do I just punish the lying, or do I punish the original offence as well? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to punish lying? He has the entire week off of school next week. How long do I draw this out? HELP!

A Good Read

I just finished reading "The Lord Looketh on the Heart: Viewing Others with Christlike Compassion" by Max & Bette Molgard. My mom gave me a stack of books because I am giving a talk in church on Sunday about the Atonement. This book only had two paragraphs that actually mention the Atonement, but I really enjoyed the read. It is only 100 pages and is filled with stories. Some of the stories were a little cheesy (a husband and wife wrote it so I don't know if they wrote the stories about each other or if they referred to themselves in third person - that was a little annoying), but the overall feel of the book was wonderful! There are probably some chapters that I should read weekly. They just gave a lot of ideas about how we can see others from Christ's point of view rather than from our own limited, often judgemental point of view. The ideas in this book will just help me be more loving and act in a more loving way to people - especially people that I don't understand. Unfortunately, the book may be out of print (I could not find a picture of it), but there are several copies at the library.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

"Obedience is a powerful spiritual medicine. It comes close to being a cure-all" (Boyd K. Packer).

"If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us face, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care" (Marvin J. Ashton).

I Still Like You, Too!

Macy has been making me crazy lately. Her new thing is, "What Mom?" She says this whenever I am talking to her. She says it 3 or 4 times to the same comment, and I swear she is standing 3 feet away from me. It is so annoying! Today, she was in her room getting her shoes on. I had already asked her to be quiet because Paige was sleeping. (Macy woke Paige up from her nap yesterday. A 12-month-old with one, one-hour nap is NOT a happy child the rest of the evening. So, I was pretty much going to lose it if Macy woke Paige up for the second day in a row.) She was talking to Claire, and they got loud, of course. I went in and asked her to be quiet. She started in with the "What Mom?" thing. After three times, I bent down, held onto her arms, and told her to listen to me when I speak. I didn't yell, but I was pretty stern with her. I walked past her room a couple of minutes later and she said, "I still like you, Mom." I wanted to say, "Well...the jury's out on you right now." But, I was laughing too hard to be upset with her anymore! Instead I said, "I still like you, too." It's a good thing God made her so cute. It has saved her life countless times!

How funny is this picture of her! She just turned four and already she's multi-tasking like a true woman. Talking to Daddy on the phone while blow-drying her baby's hair. I love you, Mace!

Lisa Lou

It was my sister's birthday the same day as Macy's. I've been meaning to do a little tribute to her for days. Sorry it's late, but I guess when you're 30 (ha, ha), it doesn't really matter. :)

It's hard for me to think of my life without thinking of Lisa. When we lived in New York (we were both nannies), someone in our ward accused the two of us of being a "clique". We just laughed because I guess our clique started when I was 14 months old. Lisa was always the quiet, sweet little girl with eyes that observed everything! She was (and still is) a homebody. Even when she was 5 years old, my mom had to sneak out of the house whenever we had a babysitter. Lisa loves everyone to be together and happy. Lisa is a very talented singer, and she is extremely photogenic. She looks absolutely stunning in every picture! Lisa enjoys decorating and likes a nice, clean house. Lisa loves her dog, and really likes nice clothing. Lisa was the 2nd mother to Gavin and Maddie. She was always extremely patient and loving. Gavin cried constantly, and when my mom couldn't take it anymore, she handed him off to Lisa. She is so loving!

Lisa loves my kids and they love her. Whenever Paige sees her, she walks (tries to run) to her and says, "Ma, ma, ma" the entire time. I get to be goofy with Lisa (the kind of goofy where my husband just stares at us with a very confused look on his face). We like to play the, "Would you like me if..." game. We try to come up with the most ridiculous things. My favorite is when Lisa tucks her upper lip into her gums and tries to talk. I can't help but laugh just thinking about it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!

Oh...and she has beautiful ankles!

Macy's Birthday

At first, I didn't think I would mind having my girls birthdays 5 days apart, but it's kind of a lot of "birthday" all at once. Oh well...I guess Greg and I should be aware that June is apparently an extra fertile month. Anyway...

Macy turned "4" on Wednesday, and she woke up the next day and asked if she was "5". I don't think she really "gets" it. But, she was such a happy girl all day long. I guess if every day was Macy's Day, we would get rid of her grumpiness. Since we are painting her room, she's been sleeping on the pull-out bed in the living room. So, I decorated that bed with balloons. Grandma Burr sent two boxes of presents last Saturday. On Monday, I called Greg at work and asked if he would mind if I just let her open those presents. They were haunting her. So, she's kind of had birthday all week long. She opened a Cinderella dress-up and Easter dress with shoes from Greg and I. My mom is going to take her to Disney Princess on Ice on Saturday. It's a surprise, but she "needed" a Disney Princess dress to wear. We spent the day making a mermaid cake.
Macy decided she wanted to go bowling for her birthday. So, we invited Claire, Tanner, and Kathryn to bowling. The kids had a great time, and insisted on doing it by themselves. They got so excited when they knocked down the pins. Tanner was actually quite impressive with two spares - go figure. Then, we came back home for pizza, cake, and presents. I had a hard time covering up the bosoms of the doll that you stick in the cake. It turned out to be kind of X-rated. Luckily, the kids didn't notice. Macy was thrilled with her gifts from her friends - barbie and barbie car, Cinderella Polly Pocket, and a kite. She was in heaven!
I cannot believe it's been four years! Where has the time gone?!? Even though she's a little sassy and emotional, I am so grateful that she is part of our family. She talks constantly, sings all the time, and "pretends" like no other. We love her!

Girl Scout Madness

So you know how I have completely lost it on the diet...Well, I decided to do it again. I need to do it for a couple of reasons. First, I just want to do the very strict 2-week portion and come out of it the way I'm supposed to (instead of going completely crazy and eating everything in my path- like the entire bag of chips or cleaning out a half gallon of ice cream). Then, I think I will be pretty strict during the week, and allow myself a little leeway on the weekends. Secondly, I've been getting constant headaches (I pretty sure its from the sugar). I have a really hard time functioning as a pleasant person when I have a headache. For the sake of my family, I need to get rid of these so they won't have to live with the yelling, mean, irrational witch-mother any more. Finally, my back didn't hurt for those two weeks. I bounced out of bed without any pain, and even on really stressful days, I didn't feel it in my back at all. This is the first time in about four years that I've gone more than a a couple of days in a row without any pain! As much as I LOVE sugar (and I really, really do), if I can move like a normal person again, it's worth giving up. So...I started again today. If I don't post it, I'm not accountable (not great on that self-control/self-motivation garbage).

After having made this decision to try the diet one more time, my sister showed up last night with an order of Girl Scout Cookies that I placed a couple of months ago (she's a teacher, and she tries to support her students so I get them through her). Apparently, I just went crazy when ordering this year, because I bought 4 boxes of Samoa's! 4 BOXES!!! What was I thinking?!? I also bought some Thin Mints and chocolate-covered peanut butter things for Greg, but I can easily pass these up. But not Samoas. They are my absolute favorite cookies on the planet. Hello...they have 75 calories in ONE COOKIE - that's obviously why they are so amazing. At this point, I "hid" them in the storage room so I won't tempt myself. I'm not sure if I have the will-power to ration them to one cookie every weekend. So, if you mysteriously get a box of Girl Scout cookies on your front porch, just know that they were haunting me - calling to me in the night, and I couldn't deal with it. You'll be doing me a favor by eating them. All I ask is that you please, please enjoy them as much as I would have! It's mandatory to close your eyes, chew slowly, and occasionally moan a little while eating them. We'll see how I do!

Pics of Paige

I teach Madeline piano lessons, and in exchange, Jen follows me around with a camera and documents my life for me. And she does it so beautifully. So here are some of my favorites of Paige that she took last Friday, exactly on her 1st Birthday. I could have posted all of them (Jen does such an amazing job). She put some on her photography blog, so I tried to pick different ones. Thank you so much, Jen! I absolutely love them!

In Memory of James

http://www.youtube.com/user/ShellyGeller

A friend of mine lost her little boy nearly two years ago. She put this video together to celebrate his life and educate other people about how he died. Take a minute to look at it, and leave a comment for her if you would. It would mean the world to her.

I Need Your Opinion...Please

I am really so bad at decorating. I don't really love it because I can't ever make anything look just "right." My budget isn't exactly large either. So...we are remodeling Macy's room (it used to be Austin's). She insisted on pink walls, but I just couldn't bring myself to do the entire thing pink. So, we did the majority of it a light brown with just the top section pink. We are going to put up a white trim in between (it does kind of look like Neapolitan ice cream). Anyway...my mom makes a quilt for each grandchild. Macy's quilt is actually in Paige's room because it matches. So, I thought I would create Macy's room around the quilt. It is really cute chocolate brown, pink, and green. I want to do just a basic, pink bedspread. But, I would like to attempt a cloth headboard. I've seen them do it all the time on "Trading Spaces" and "Home Makeover." You take a board, cut out the shape you want, cover it with padding, then cover it with fabric. You mount it to the wall (Greg's having a heart attack right now) and push the bed up to it. I selected two of the fabric's from the quilt, and I need your opinion about a headboard. What do you think??? Remember...I am so bad at this. I need your opinions. Thanks!

Fabric #1: I like this one, but it only has different shades of pink; there isn't any green.

Fabric #2: You can't tell, but the background is chocolate brown with the green and pink.

Honestly Girl...

This is a picture of my orphan child on Paige's birthday. (Greg says he's saving this picture to use as teenage blackmail.) I guess Macy assumed that because we stripped Paige down to a diaper to eat cake, she should have the same privilege. She went into her room and emerged in this concoction a few minutes later. She hasn't worn pull-ups for months (I don't even know where she found one), but they are very flattering. I guess Macy also assumed that because Paige got to rip into the cake with her hands, she should have the same privilege. Seriously...whose child is this?!?

We were in the store today, and I let Macy pick out cupcakes to take to school tomorrow because it's her birthday on Wednesday. I grabbed some chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles, showed them to her, and asked her what she thought. Her response: *With a huge smile on her face, "Mommy...do you want to see me jump for joy?!?" At least she's funny (although her sense of fashion needs a little work)!

Paige's 1st Birthday

Paige turned one last Friday. I can's believe that she is one already! Where did this year go? I think it goes faster with each child. When I was little, my parents always decorated our rooms when we were asleep. I've kind of carried this tradition over to my kids. So, I tied balloons around the crib while she was sleeping. She wasn't too sure of the balloons, though. As soon as she woke up, Austin and Macy were in her room with presents from Grandma Burr. A little overwhelmed, Paige cautiously opened her presents. She was actually pretty good at tearing the paper. Grandma gave her a couple of baby dolls, a singing dog, and a little book that sings. She loves to carry her baby doll around, and now she has a couple of her very own that Macy cannot rip out of her hands. We celebrated her birthday with the family on Sunday night. I made her a bathtub cake because she LOVES being in the tubby. She did pretty good at tearing into it. We actually had to turn the cake around because she reached for the candle (that was lit). I should have taken a picture of that for the social services file. I used black licorice for the spout, and she gnawed on that thing while she flung cake all over the floor. Who knew that babies enjoy black licorice?!? We couldn't find a rubber ducky to float on the "water" so Macy came up with a sheep. Whatever.
I just cannot say enough about how much I love this girl. My babies always seem to start out a little fussy, and she was just the same. I would say the first 4-6 months are a little demanding. But, once she learned to sit up, she has been much more content. She is so happy! She has this crazy, BIG, cheesy smile, and her tongue is out of control. It cracks me up. She looks too small to be toddling around, but she just wanders from room to room, up and down the stairs, gathering little "treasures" along the way. I like it when she toddles into the front room and I hear the soft sound of piano keys. She is my best eater by far, and she is a great sleeper. She has a few words: Uh-oh, Mama, Dada, Baba, Baby, Peek-a-boo, singing the ABCs, singing EIEIO. She claps when I put on Baby Einstein, makes the sign for "more" when it's time to eat, and squeals with delight when I walk in her room to get her out of the crib. She loves to climb on my lap. It isn't enough to stand by me and give me "loves," she has to climb all the way on. She'll actually push Macy off if she's on my lap, too. It's pretty funny! I love her so much, and I can't imagine our life without her. Happy Birthday!