Better Late Than Never

So, it's been a while since I posted. This post is a little late for Thanksgiving, but I think it's a good season to be counting blessings anyway. I was reading an article in the Ensign yesterday and realized that I could benefit from following one of the suggestions. The article suggests writing down 100 things you are thankful for and breaks it into 10 groups of 10. I did make a list but decided not to post it here. However, I challenge each of you to make your own list of 100 things you are thankful for (go read the article to find the 10 groups of 10) and share it with someone you love.

To catch up on what's going on with us, we bought a duplex in July. That's why the blog posts stopped - we have been very busy with many details pertaining to that. We are living in one unit and renting the other to four college girls. Per and Tripp and growing like crazy and keeping us very busy as well. Per turned 3 in August, and Tripp turned 1 in June.

Per, after getting his hair cut at the end of August. I think that's popsicle all over his face.

Some of my favorite things about Per right now are that he recites parts of books to himself frequently. He has a great memory and quotes books to me that have long since been returned to the library. He has also started singing songs for people besides just Zak and me, and it is adorable. He is nice to Tripp (most of the time) and very snuggle-y when it's time for bed. He is going to be a Sunbeam in a few short weeks and says he is excited for it.

Tripp is quite a climber. Here he is in the half-bath at Grandma's house, with the water turned on and the soap in the sink. Rascal.

Tripp has started saying TONS and TONS of words. We say a word in conversation and he immediately repeats it. Tripp's biggest word is "bulldozer." Count 'em - that's three syllables. I don't even know how many words he knows now, but he is getting to be a great communicator. He can tell me what songs he wants for nap time and bedtime. He can tell me what he wants to drink. He can tell me what toy he wants or if he needs a kiss better because he bonked his head. It is amazing to see him learn so much, so quickly. He is a loving little guy and loves giving his favorite stuffed animals (Pinky Bear and Piggie) hugs and kisses.

Both boys are doing great. Zak is teaching and enjoying that and looking forward to Christmas break. I am doing my best to keep up with cleaning, sewing, cooking, and child-rearing. It's a lot of work, but definitely the most rewarding kind.

This sort of reads like a Christmas letter -- so I guess you can consider it that way. I hope you all enjoy this month of December and the holiday season!

Summertime

I just looked to see when I last posted. Sheesh. How does time get away from me? Here are a few pictures to show what we've been doing for the last two months or so.

Swinging at the park.

Going on lots of walks.

Reading lots of books.

Learning the fine art of stuffing-crayons-in-the-nose.

Struggling with sleeping through the night.

Tripp had a birthday, shout hooray! And he demolished his cake. It. Was. Everywhere.

Tripp is experimenting with self-feeding using a spoon.Per still has chubby toddler cheeks. I love them.

That's basically what we've been up to. Just lots of time hanging out with each other, enjoying having Daddy home for the summer, riding the bus, and going to the park.

Some Vids

They do play well together. Sometimes.

See what I mean about the food?

Catch Up

Per and Daddy reading The Bears' Vacation this morning before Zak left for work.

I am pretty sure that it marks some sort of rite of passage to find a booger on the wall. I found one on Per's wall earlier this week. Ah, he's growing up so fast.

Some other tidbits about Per: He now loves toast with cinnamon and sugar. He has always loved toast, but he goes through phases with what he likes on his toast. Most recently, he loved toast with honey. I love the way he requests his toast now, though: "Mama, can I have toast with shuga-man and sugar?"

He sneezed yesterday and after doing so, said, "Bless my soul and call me silly!" That's something Zak has said since Per was very small, since Zak's sneezes are loud and used to make Per cry. He started using that saying to make Per smile instead of cry. And now Per is saying it.

Per loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and though I SWEAR I have only showed him Thomas videos a handful of times, he walks around saying, "Bust my buffers!" It's pretty cute.

Per thought it would be funny to wear Tripp's pants the other night after we took them off of Tripp. The funny thing is that they look just like a pair of shorts he would normally wear except for the snaps on the inside of the legs.

Per's favorite days of the week are Saturday and Sunday, since those are the days that Daddy is home all day and available to play. Also, on Sunday he gets to go to nursery and play with the toys, which he loves. He could do without the other kids, but he generally plays just fine when they are there.

We are the Bear den leaders in our ward, so we have a den meeting at the church two or three times a month. We hold that meeting in the nursery to help Per and Tripp be less bored. Per has taken to calling it "nursery cub scouts" and loves to say that he plays with Caleb and Payton in nursery cub scouts. He doesn't. They just show up, we do the activity, and then we hang around and play with the toys in the nursery or play basek-ball (Per's way of saying basketball) in the gym.

There's a view of those top teeth.

Tripp is a fast little baby -- he crawls up the stairs SO quickly! He is cruising along furniture more and more lately and tries to stand by himself often. He always has an extremely surprised look on his face when he falls down.

He is already learning how to push Per's buttons and likes to crawl all over Per when we read books together. He is also adept and pulling Per's hair and ears (playfully, of course) when we read together. Per is pretty good-natured about it, but when he has had enough he lets Tripp know.

Tripp wakes up a lot at night. Some nights are better than others, but he is slowly learning how to sleep for longer periods at a time. In fact, he has been asleep for six hours straight as I write this. It feels like a miracle!

Not a great picture since it's all blurry, but his face was so cute. I love Tripp's laugh.

Tripp is also a really good eater. He doesn't love baby food so much anymore, though he does tolerate some of the vegetables and likes most of the fruits. What he really wants is normal, big-person food. He devours anything we give him and wails if we don't share what we're eating. It's fun to see his personality emerging.

Per-snips

Lately Per loves to help me cook. He loves to stir things, to "knock down" the bread in the toaster, to turn on the Kitchen Aid, and he also LOVES to do the dishes. Like, he loves doing dishes more than he loves meatballs. And he loves meatballs. A LOT.


Here are just a couple of things that Per has said recently that I found funny:

The other day I was sitting at the computer working on paying bills and budgeting for a few minutes. Tripp was playing in his high chair and Per was in his favorite nook in the kitchen – under the computer desk. To tease him, I put my feet on him and started talking about how I loved this warm, soft footstool I had to rest my feet on. He immediately pushed my feet and legs away and said, “Mama, keep your feet to yourself please.”

Per likes to say (especially to Tripp), “If you don’t stop (insert action to stop here), there’s going to be a problem.”

Another thing Per likes to say to Tripp is, "That is not for you. Sorry, buddy. Sorry, kiddo. You may not have that."

We were saying a prayer before Per's nap time/rest time today. Here’s a pretty close rendition of what Per said, “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you Daddy can have a good day at work. Bless that we can sing Old MacDonald. Bless that we can sing the next verse. Bless that we can sing the tractor. And the tractor says, 'Chug, chug, chug.' Thank you for this body. Thank you for Mom’s body. Thank you for Tripp’s body so he can poop. Thanks for Dad’s body.” And then he closed the prayer, though not without giving Mom a little chastising swat since I had started shaking with silent laughter at the “poop” line. Kids are so great.

This just in: Per is eating a popsicle at the kitchen table and he just said to Tripp, "Trippton, that's cold, brotha!"

Playing

I love watching these boys play together. They are so hilarious!

P.S. I just figured out how to post video to my blog. Can you tell?

P.P.S. I just realized that Per is wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt in each of the videos I have posted tonight. Those are his two shirts of choice anytime they are clean. He looooves his Mickey shirts.

Tripp's Acrobatics

So, in my defense, it was laundry day. That's why Tripp is wearing a summer romper with a pair of frou-frou Baby Legs (note: they were FREE. So, yeah, they're kind of girly, and Tripp is a boy. Did I mention they were FREE?) and his jacket. At least, I think it was laundry day. Mama was at home having a much-needed break while Daddy took the boys to Grandma's house.

Our little Tripp is incredibly determined. It's fun to see him moving around and starting to crawl more and more. Now he pulls up and stands next to furniture. Or legs. Or whatever he can grab on to. He likes to walk around with someone holding his hands. Per walked at 14 months. I don't think we have that much time with this little turkey.

Also, nice face, Zak. And I'm not sure who was the scoundrel, Grandma or Per.

Finally, many thanks to Grandma for capturing this moment!

Poor Empty Pants

I made these pants for Per Saturday night, as he had very helpfully gotten marker on his other khaki Sunday pants. Found the pattern here. Loving the Celebrate the Boy month that is going on on MADE and Made by Rae. There are some variations on the pants on her site which I am really excited to try making, too! The pants were really easy to make (And I am not great with sewing clothes. Really. I'm not.). It took me an hour from the time I decided to make them to completion. I used some fabric my mom sent me a while back (thanks, Mom!).

And then I remembered these pants from circa 1978 and dug out this picture from my parents' slide collection. (My sister left a comment that these pants were made for her and she was totally embarrassed to wear them because my DAD made them! GASP! I think that's awesome! And, BTW, I would totally wear those pants if I had them.)

And so I thought a little Dr. Seuss was apropos:

I put my arm around their waist
And sat right down beside them.
I calmed them down.
Poor empty pants
With nobody inside them.

I guess we have a sort of family tradition with Empty Pants. Poor things.

The Radiation Suit

Tripp wasn't digging his IKEA bib-with-sleeves.

This is his face when he saw me coming with the food. It must've been pears or sweet potatoes. Those are his favorites right now.

And I set the food down on the table as he looks on beneficently. Said beneficence being that he is actually going to eat the food I'm going to attempt to feed him.

Oh, what a cute baby. I can say that about my own kid, right?

The Buzz

Kind of like The Sting, but instead, it's The Buzz. Yeah, okay, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

This is how long Per's hair was.

This gives an even better idea.

Here's mid-Buzz.

And the finished product.

We didn't know it was possible for Per to be even cuter.

But it is.

Shenanigans

Tripp has been growing lots and learning to do new things. He can sit up by himself for about 30 seconds and is getting better at it every day. He started eating rice cereal last week and has a healthy appetite. He had his 6 month check up yesterday and is 27 1/4 inches tall and weighs almost 17 pounds. He is a friendly little guy and always has a smile on. The hat is courtesy of Per. He thought he was hilarious for putting this hat on Tripp.

Per is also a delight.

He discovered recently that crayons color on lots of things besides the pages of his coloring books, such as the wall, the dishwasher, and the refrigerator. Even on the screen of our Mac. Luckily crayon comes off of computer screens with some water, a microfiber cloth, and lots of patient, gentle rubbing, and Goo-Gone works wonders on all the others.

Yesterday I was trying to get him to be cheerful about something he didn't want to do and I asked him to give me a smile. His response: "No, Mama. I don't want a make a smile."
He is also growing like crazy. He is 36 1/2 inches tall and weighs around 31 pounds. He learns multiple new words every day. And he's not afraid to use 'em.
His first foray into sugar cookie decorating. He would dab a tiny bit onto the cookie and then request "annuzer one." Guess there's nothing like a blank canvas.
Per's Christmas haul. His favorite present is his lair (pronounced "yay-er") which he's sitting in. He likes us to put a blanket over it and play hide and seek. He directs us from the safety of his lair as to where we should look for him. Some favorite spots are: in the closet, behind the tv, behind the Christmas tree, under the couch, and behind the blue chair. It's a pretty funny game.
Per loves his little brover.
"Dis Twippton Max Lewsis."

Today's Affirmation

I am a responsible parent.

I am a responsible parent.

I am a responsible parent.

I am a responsible parent.