Abundant Recompense Copy

About the time we brought Bryn home, this guy decided to grow up all of a sudden. He's left his high chair behind (because he could climb in, buckle and unbuckle, and stand up in it) in favor of a sleek new booster seat; the big boy bed that was a no-go a couple months ago is working out great these days (mainly because Mom and Dad don't want little Flipper in their room forever). The list goes on and on and he adds to it every day. Here are a few more examples. Mommy's little helper Yesterday he played at the sink for the better part of an hour while I canned tomato sauce. He washed dishes, drank the water, and took a bite out of about half the tomatoes. And he was content to do it all by himself. Make-believe Last night while I was rocking him before bedtime, he was drinking a bottle and holding his little stuffed animal, Bucky. Out of the blue he started grinning from ear to ear, took the bottle out of his mouth, and held it up to Bucky's and made drinking noises. Mo...

You're sure to agree she's getting cuter every day. And, Nate points out, she makes lots of different noises. He calls her Flipper, because she makes what he says are "dolphin noises." But all in all, definitely a sweet baby. Especially when she's chilling in her new boppy, courtesy of a lady in our ward who was finished with hers. Thank goodness for sharing baby stuff.

News Flash: It is an adjustment to have a new baby. Especially when it isn't the first baby. Understandably, I think, I was really nervous for my first day alone caring for our two kids. My main concern was that Addison would terrorize the house and/or inflict great bodily harm upon himself while I was stranded on the couch nursing Bryn. And I am stranded on the couch nursing Bryn a lot, and it takes forever. Enter inspired mother-in-law. A day or so after Bryn was born, Nate's mom came up to help us out. Bless her soul. She was basically a slave for about a week and a half. She cleaned, cooked, babysat, and prescribed lots of naps and milkshakes for yours truly. As the day for her to leave approached, I tried not to think about it. It inevitably came, though, and as I bade her a nervous farewell, she mentioned that she'd left a little something in the pantry to give to Addison when my only other option is kicking him to the moon. (She didn't actually say it like that, ...

Yesterday instead of church, all of Utah (or at least the Wasatch Front) got to participate by satellite in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple dedication. It was a really cool experience, made even more pleasant by the fact that kids had to be 8 years old to attend, so we had some friends watch Add and Bryn. We actually got to go to the open house a few months back. We got the chance to take a tour of the temple, and it is beautiful! Bryn is obviously still in the oven at this point. If you look really closely at the windows with lights on in this picture, you can see one of my favorite details - little etched out stars.

We took about a million of these family ones and this is about as photogenic as Bryn wanted to be.

These are the times that make all the other ones sooo worth it. Definitely not his pacifier New big boy chair

For those of you who are familiar with Larry the Cucumber and Veggie Tales, I have one word for you: Oosta. For everyone else, I was minding my own business, herding the kiddies across the train tracks to go meet Daddy's train, when I was divebombed by a big mean ugly wasp. And I got stung. Right on the lip. I'm sure everyone waiting for the train enjoyed watching my little dance to get it off. It hurt really bad, but only for a minute. Over the next several hours my lips magically transformed into a beak. And it just happened to be my night out, so I went out. In public. The Walmart checker lady gave me lots of advice on what to do next time it happens. I was scared for awhile that my lip would explode, because it kept getting bigger and bigger, and my cheeks started to join in, but it finally reached its peak. We were hoping that I'd wake up and it'd be gone. But alas, here I am, 16 hours later, and I still have a beak where my lips should be. Here's hoping it...

Nate is awesome for many reasons, but I was reminded of one in particular at about 3 o'clock this morning. He was mercifully doing the Bryn's diaper change so I could get 30 seconds of sleep in the middle of the feeding, when he sleepily declared it "one for the books." We've known for a long time that Bryn's favorite activity is soiling very fresh diapers, but poor sleepy Nate had been almost completely done changing her when she turned on the fountain. This would be tragic, but not funny, except for the fact that the diaper was on inside out! I laughed for the rest of the feeding and was slightly concerned about giving poor Bryn shaken baby syndrome. She seems okay, for the record, and you've gotta love a man who laughs at himself (and lets his delirious wife in on the joke) at 3 a.m.

I'd just like to take a second and inform the world that Addison is a mature, well adjusted boy who SAT ON THE POTTY of his own free will yesterday! I saw an open bathroom door, heard the toilet lid open, and peeked in to see him trying to get his bum on the toilet while brushing his teeth with the other hand. So I tried to play it cool, took off the diaper, and plopped him up there for a few seconds. He didn't do anything except feel really cool and make his mommy burst her buttons. Then we called everyone in the world and shared the news. I could handle him keeping this up.