Oh My!

I really don't need to explain much more than this:

Tralee got into my craft supplies and had quite the time with the pink ink pad.

Quite the time indeed.

Yeah, she thought she looked awesome.

All we could do was laugh.

The Park

We've had a few nice days lately, so Tralee and I took advantage and headed off to a local park.

Our first trip was VERY eventful. Unfortunately, it was eventful for all the wrong reasons. I blame myself. I took Tralee there right before dinner, and she hadn't napped that day. She was hungry and tired -- a double whammy!

When we first arrived Tralee was super excited. She ran right to the swings yelling "Wing! Wing! Wing!" Her glee lasted about fifteen to twenty minutes. After that, the meltdown began.

There were several kids at the playground, and Tralee kept trying to go up the slides the wrong way. I'm not a slide Nazi, and usually let Tralee do whatever she wants on them, unless there are other kids around and she needs to share. I attempted to point out to Tralee that other kids needed to go down the slide, but there was no reasoning. She wouldn't budge, and I had to physically take her off the slide. She slammed her body on the ground (a frequent behavior lately) and started to wail. I picked Tralee up, and told her we had to go to the car until she settled down. Well, who I'm I kidding? I'm a pregnant lady carrying a 33 pound, kicking toddler to a car parked far away. We didn't make it to the car, but we did make it to a tree where I sat Tralee down and told her she couldn't get up until she calmed down.

I should have made it to the car. Two seconds later Tralee jumped up and took off through the soccer field. For two, this little girl is FAST! I chased her down (I can only imagine what on-lookers where thinking as a VERY pregnant woman was chasing a very FAST two year old), and took her back to the tree. A few minutes later she was ready to play again.

Her new-found enthusiasm didn't last long. Tralee climbed to the very top of the tallest slide, sat down, and then chickened out. Within a few seconds there was a rather long line of kids waiting to slide down. I couldn't reach Tralee as it was too high. I tried to coax her down, but she wasn't having it. A few little boys were growing impatient with Tralee and were crowding around her to get her to go down. Tralee started hitting them (something I've never seen her do before), and that's when I decided I would have to climb the ladder and get Tralee down myself.

So. . . my pregnant belly and I climbed the little blue ladder (meant for little kids) to the highest part of the play ground and rescued Tralee. Again. . . I can only guess what the other parents were thinking.

I got her safely to the ground and told her it was time to go. This news brought another bout of tears and screaming. In fact, she cried all the way to the grocery store. I would have gone right home, but we were completley out of milk. I told Tralee she had to be a good girl inside the grocery store, and if she was, I would get her some french fries for the ride home. The bribe worked! She was GREAT while I quickly grabbed some milk and got the heck out of the store.

I also kept my promise and we hit a drive through where I got Tralee a chocolate milk and a small french fry. She was an angel all the way home!

I timed our next visit to the park MUCH better. We went right after lunch and an hour or so before her nap time. She was a peach the whole time. She didn't even cry when I told her it was time to leave! I was SOOOOOO proud of her! The bonus to this day was, she was so wore out from playing at the park, that she slept for 3.5 hours at nap time, and even went to bed early! It can't get any better than that!

Playin' Catch Up

I had a few random photos from the last few weeks that didn't really fit into any other post, so I just threw them all on this one.

My little girl is so stinken' cute!



Just smiling for the camera.

Tralee's been into stuffies lately. Kitty is her most favorite. Then she really likes this purple bear. The other night we were snuggling on the couch watching American Idol, and Kitty and Bear were each comfortably tucked under Tralee's arms. Tralee was about to fall asleep. It was so cute I made Jim get the camera and snap this photo.

I caught Tralee today on her bed sticking four different stuffies down the space between her bed and the wall. She wasn't content until each animal's head was just barley peaking out from the crack. Tralee was supposed to be napping, but instead she was arranging her animals. Later on, she emerged from her room carrying all four stuffies. So, naturally, I took a picture.

And just so you know, she never did take that nap, much to her mother's dismay!

A few weeks ago I took this picturs of Tralee (and Elmo) helping her daddy paint the bathroom.

This was the one picture I took while Ross and Judy were in town. It was from the ice skating/sledding adventures on Lake Lowell. Believe it or not, Lake Lowell is completley thawed now. Crazy!

That's about all for now.

Family Home Evening

We're not regular Family Home Evening-ers. This is something we're trying to remedy. What usually happens is one of us says, "Oh, it's Monday night. We need to do something for FHE." Then we scramble and try to do an activity together. Lately, we're striving to plan ahead and make sure we have a lesson and activity planned. Yesterday afternoon I was trying to think of something do to as a family that would engage a toddler's attention. I'm not good at coming up with things on my own, so I turned to the trusty internet for answers. I found a PERFECT FHE activity to do!

Our lesson was on Heavenly Father Blessed Us with Families. We sang "Happy Family," did a short lesson by showing a picture of Jesus with His mother Mary when He was a little boy. We explained just like Jesus, we have earthly parents and Heavenly Parents. We told Tralee Heavenly Father blessed her with parents who love her very much. Short. Sweet. And to the point.

After the lesson, the fun part began. Our activity was to do a family portrait -- but not your typical one. We busted out the finger paints, got some poster board, and the idea was that each family member would put their hand-print on the page using a different color. I knew ahead of time that the colors would all get blended together, so I didn't stress when most of our hand prints were covered up with two-year-old scribbles. The point was for us to be together as a family. After our "family portrait" was done, we got another piece of poster board and we all just went to town finger-painting whatever our little hearts desired. It was a blast!

Thank heavens for the internet! And. . . thank heavens for families!

Oh, Tralee.

Tralee wasn't on her best behavior at church today.

We had a melt-down while the sacrament was passed. Tralee wanted to take a whole handful of bread, and when we wouldn't let her, she reacted with a tantrum. Jim took her out of the chapel. I could still hear her wailing. Eventually, the tantrum escalated to the point where Jim took her out to the car where she continued to scream for about 30 minutes. Lovely. At the very end of sacrament meeting Jim showed up with a smiley Tralee in tow. She was happy, just in time for nursery. In all fairness to Tralee, sacrament meeting is right around her nap time.

Tralee did great in nursery, but she always does. As long as there's toys, food, music, and bubbles, Tralee is usually a peach.

After church I had to get set apart for my calling. The only one available was our bishop and Jim. So, during my blessing Tralee was free to run amok in the bishop's office. The blessing was beautiful -- well, what I heard of it. I only heard about half of it as one ear was listening for Tralee, and my eyes kept peeking at what she was doing.

During the blessing Tralee picked up the bishop's phone said, "Hello!" and then dropped the receiver. A few seconds later I heard the phone make that annoying sound it does when it's been left off the receiver for too long. Tralee also managed to pick up the bishop's HUGE glass candy jar, bring it over to me, and place it in my lap. I was just glad she didn't break it! She also found a large jar of licorice, took off the lid, and started to carry the licorice around. At one point she took a piece out of the jar with her mouth, and then spit it back into the jar. Jim could do nothing, as his hands were on my head. And I could do nothing as I was receiving the blessing. When the blessing ended, instead of shaking the bishop's hand to thank him, I handed him back his candy jar. Jim put the phone back on the receiver, and I tried to guess which piece of licorice had Tralee spit on it. There were hundreds of licorices in the jar, and I just couldn't make a guess. I hope since it happened during the blessing, the licorice with Tralee spit on it was protected and blessed as well. If not, I sure hope whoever ends up with that piece has a forgiving heart.

So, to sum it up, church was entertaining (to say the least) with a two-year-old. I have NO idea how some kids sit perfectly content during sacrament meeting. I come with a bag full of snacks, books, crayons, and other little toys to keep Tralee quiet. It didn't work today. If you have any pearls of wisdom about keeping a restless two-year-old in good form during sacrament, please pass them along with a comment.

We're home now, and Tralee is napping. All the frustration and embarrassment I felt at church today melted away as I just went in Tralee's room to check on her. Why is it when they're sleeping that kids look irresistible? Seriously, she is so sweet when she sleeps. I snuggled up next to her and starred at the dimple on her chin, her chubby, soft, little cheeks, long dark eyelashes, perfect tulip lips, and sweet little nose that's a perfect mix of Jim's and mine. I listened to her angel breath as she inhaled and exhaled. Then I whispered in her perfectly curved ear how much I love her.

I've never loved anything as I've loved Tralee. It's an all-consuming love that I've never experienced before motherhood. I would do anything for this child. Yes, this same child that drove me crazy at church today.

I keep telling Jim, it doesn't matter what she does, the love is always there. Even when I'm at a loss because the terrible-twos are hitting my child full-force and I've run out of ideas, I still love every single thing about her. But, for now I REALLY love it when she sleeps angelically and I can whisper wishes into her ear.

So Much for That!

The last few days I've been ravenous. I blame the boy I'm growing. Seriously, yesterday and the day before I couldn't get enough to eat. I also didn't do my best to make sure I was eating my best. Finally I decided that TODAY would be the day I would eat really really healthy things to make up for my two irresponsible days.

I woke up and ate some oatmeal and fruit. Later on I felt hungry so I made myself a protein shake with a banana. At lunch I ate an organic whole-wheat burrito (thank you Amy's . . . it's a great organic brand of Mexican food) and some grapes. Then I went about my day.

Not long after lunch, I went to put a load of clothes in the washer. When I flipped the switch no water filled the machine. "Huh?" I thought. "There must be something wrong with my washer." I thought maybe I'd give it a minute, and try again. No water again. I called the repair guy, and went about my home-maker duties. I thought I might run a load of dishes in the dishwasher. When I flipped the switch. . . Nothing! I then thought to try our faucets. No water. My next step? Call Jim.

He said that our not-so-upstanding neighbor probably didn't pay the water pump bill. GREAT! Why is this great? We share a well with our neighbor, and up to this point we've been paying him our half of the bill, innocently thinking he was actually paying the other half. Boy were we dumb! Not only hasn't he been paying his half, he hasn't been paying ANYTHING! I called the electric company and they gave me the GREAT news that it would cost several hundred dollars to turn the pump back on, because there hasn't been a payment on the account for SEVERAL months! WONDERFUL!!

Our neighbor wasn't home when I got this amazing news, so I waited until I saw his truck pull in his driveway. Usually I would have Jim deal with all of this, but he's out of town, and I kind of needed water for dishes, laundry, and sanitation purposes. It was up to me to deal with this mess. As soon as I saw our neighbor, I walked on over to have a little chat with him. If you don't know me well, you probably don't know that I HATE (hate hate hate hate hate) confrontation. I especially hate it when I know the person I'm dealing with is currently in an anger management program (yup, that's our neighbor!) So, as I was walking over I said a little prayer that I would be able to handle this well.

I explained the situation to our neighbor. I also explained that from now on Jim and myself need to be on the bill so we can avoid situations like this in the future. I had my cell phone handy and told our neighbor that we needed to call the electric company THIS MINUTE to get this situation taken care of and get our water back on ASAP. Luckily, he agreed.

When all was said and done the electric company terminated our neighbor's name on the billing, and transferred the water pump into our name. They also noticed that Jim and I are in good standing (we actually pay our bills) so they would get our water turned back on today. Our neighbor would still be responsible for the outstanding balance (which I found out was over $900), and we would only be billed from today on. They also said they would send out a technician and make sure everything is being distributed evenly. When I explained this to our neighbor I found out that he had been running TWO fifth-wheels on the pump and we were paying for half of their electricity. He said from now on the ONLY thing that would be running from the pump house was the water pump. I told him we would hold him to it, and check on it ourselves, to be sure.

Now, for those of you who are worrying about us collecting our neighbor's half of the pump fee. Don't worry. We're currently on a lease-to-own with him for our house, so we told him we would just deduct his half of the pump fee from our mortgage payment. It will all work out. PHEW!

So, as far as eating healthy goes. As soon as I was done dealing with all of this I sat myself down and ate a nice bowl of Breyers Vanilla Bean ice cream. And you know what? I felt no guilt doing it whatsoever! In fact, I think I kind of deserved it after the mess I had to straighten up. I'll have to start my healthy eating thing tomorrow.

Canadian (and St. George) Visitors

Jim's dad and step-mom came down from the Great White North for a visit this last Friday. At the same time Jim's brother John, his wife Cassi, and their cute kids (Lexi and Brody) also visited from St. George. John and his family spent most of their time visiting with Trish, and being pleasantly surprised at how well her recovery process is going. Trish still has a ways to go, but it's amazing the progress she's made over the last few weeks. When John and his family could, they visited with us and it was so fun see everyone!

Friday we all hung out at our place, chatted, and then went to bed.


Saturday's highlights included ice skating on Lake Lowell. Jim and his dad took the hockey gear down to the lake first. Judy, Tralee, and I met up with them a while later and watched Tralee get pulled around on a sled. I wasn't there when it happened, but apparently Jim and Ross (and I think John was there also) were escorted off the ice by a police man. Apparently it's a federal offense to ice skate on Lake Lowell. This is weird, because it's not against the law to ice fish on it, and people do all the time. Does anyone else see the problem here? Weird.



Saturday was also Valentines Day, so Ross and Judy were nice enough to take Jim, Tralee, and me, as well as John, Cassi, and their kids out to eat. The only problem was, every place we tried had at least an hour wait. We finally called The Cracker Barrel and they had no wait, so to The Cracker Barrel we went. It was quite nice, and we had a nice Valentine's dinner with family thanks to Ross and Judy.

Oh, I also can't forget to mention our visit to Cabelas. Jim (and his dad) could spend all day in there. It's a cool place to visit, and the kids were mesmerized by the fish tanks, but I think we spent well over an hour (possibly two) in there. At least Cassi and Judy were there to talk to. The kids also kept us occupied as well. Ross managed to sneak another visit to Cabelas in on Monday by telling Judy he needed to pick up a fishing lure he ordered. Jim was in on it too. Turns out, there was no lure, the guys just wanted another chance to see the wonders of Cabelas. It was actually pretty funny.

Sunday we went to Church, Ross and Judy saw John and Cassi off to St. George, and we hung out some more. It was nice.

Jim had a hockey game while Ross was in town, and was so excited to have his dad watch him play in a game. Sadly, these were the only pictures taken, as no refs showed up and the game was canceled. Jim was bummed!!! However, Jim and Ross made the best of it by driving around Boise, checking out some of Ross's old mission area, and having some father-son talks.


Monday we shopped, hung out, ate out some more (thanks again to our Canadian visitors). Judy bought our baby-on-the-way some really cute outfits, and Tralee an adorable Easter/summer dress and sweater. I absolutley LOVE it, and can't wait to put Tralee in it. I only wish the warmer months would hurry up and get here!

Monday night we watched a movie together, and went to bed. Before we knew it, Tuesday morning came and we were waving goodbye to Ross and Judy as they drove away to head home.

We had a great time with family, and we're sad they had to leave. But, all good things must come to and end I suppose. We're really grateful to Jim's dad and Judy for showing us such a good time while they were in town. It was almost like we were on vacation too.

Now it's back to normal life. Jim's on an install today, and I have laundry to do and boring errands to run. Hopefully I'll get them all done today, as motivation is an issue. I have none, especially when it comes to the laundry. I just don't want to do it. Wish me luck!

Humph!

It's that time again. Time in my pregnancy to retire my beautiful engagement ring and wedding band to my jewelery box. That time where my hands get so swollen to the point that -- dare I say it? -- I have man hands. Time that I replace my beautiful ring set with a sub par silver band that's a few sizes larger than my wedding finger is used to.

Oh well. In a few months I'll have a new baby to care for, and hopefully all the swelling will go down, my original ring will slip back on my finger, and be spit-up on numerous times a day. I'll just have to be patient and let this little (or. . .actually, quite large) silver ring do the work for now.

I'll see you in a few months engagement ring and wedding band.

What do you think?

We were at Jim's Mom's house the other day and came across some old photos of Jim. After looking at pictures of himself when he was Tralee's age, it was the first time Jim thought that Tralee looks like him. Before, he always said she looked just like me. I think she's a good mix. However, I couldn't resist putting all of our pictures next to each other and comparing for myself.



I think Tralee's head, hair, and nose are more Jim.

Her eyes and teeth are mine.

That's all I came up with.

What do you think? Jim, me, or a good mix?

Babysitting

We babysat Jim's Aunt's kids last week. They have a daughter that's the same age as Tralee. It was fun to see them play together. Most of the time Brinley and Tralee ran around laughing and giggling, but there were a few two-year-old moments. And, they're girls, so of course there would be some drama. Nothing that wasn't easily expelled though. Here are a few pictures from our babysitting adventures.

Busy

We've had a busy few weeks.

We babysat Jim's Uncle's kids

Came home for three days

Jim's sisters came to visit (which was so fun to have them here, they're fun girls. . . excuse me, women)

We babysat Jim's Aunt's kids while said sisters were in town

We visited and took shifts with Tricia in between the above mentioned

Gave talks in Church on Sunday

And now we're finally home.

But. . . .there's no rest for the weary. Jim's Dad and his wife Judy are coming into town. Because of all the above business I haven't touched my house in over a week. It looks not-so-fantastic. So, I'll be cleaning, cleaning, cleaning the next few days to get it looking good enough for company. . . the in-law kind of company. We're even having a septic guy and furnace guy come out today to check on things. We have no idea the last time our septic tank was cleaned, so it's probably time for a good hose-out. I wont' go into more detail than that. Also, our furnace is old and needs a good cleaning as well.

I better get going. There's lots to do.

Kitty Disease

When I was little I desperately wanted a cat. One of my first entries in my childhood journal -- the pink-and-white one with ballet slippers on the cover and a little gold lock -- explained that I had the "Kitty Disease." In said journal, I wrote that the "Kitty Disease" is when you REALLY REALLY REALLY want a kitty, and you look at pictures of kitties and they make you cry, and you go to pet stores and pet the kitties, and then go sit on the curb outside the pet store and cry and cry and cry because you can't take a kitty home with you. It was a very tough time in my childhood, but eventually I outgrew the Kitty Disease. In fact, I've since become a dog person.

I'm a bit worried though. Symptoms of the Kitty Disease are beginning to rear their ugly head around here. Not with me, but with Tralee. I thought this "disease" was just a childhood drama for me, but lately I've been consumed with the thought that it might actually have some merit. I've even toyed with the conclusion that I've genetically passed down the "Kitty Disease" to Tralee! Could this be possible? Let me explain my concerns:

• We've never really brought cats up around Tralee, yet she's still drawn to all-things-cat.

• When we pull up anywhere near Petco Tralee starts meow-ing like crazy. When we go into Petco, she runs right up to the cats that need to be adopted, and won't leave without a heavy bit of persuasion and bribery on our part.

• The other other day I opened up a bag of fruit snacks for Tralee, and one fruit snack was a cat. She ate all the others, but walked around saying "M-EEE-OOOO-WWW" while gazing at her pink kitty fruit snack. As hard as I tried to get Tralee to eat the last fruit snack, she refused. Eventually I found it laying on the carpet and threw it away. This has occurred with every bag of said fruit snacks.

• We have some farm animal, and other books with cats in them. Tralee will turn to the page with the cat and keep it there, all the while gazing at the cat
  

• We have puzzles with kitties on them. Tralee will put every piece of the puzzle back together, but the kitty stays out. She won't put it back, and instead carries it around meowing.

• My sister-in-law and brother sent Tralee an orange kitty stuffy for Christmas. That thing WILL NOT leave Tralee's side. It calms her down when she's sad, she FREAKS if we take it away, and I consistently find her sitting with "Kitty" talking in her garbled babble to him. She even tries to take him in the tub at bath time, but I can usually get it away as long as he stays where Tralee can see him. When her bath is over, Kitty is the first thing Tralee wants after drying off.
  

• The other day I snuck Kitty into the washer when Tralee wasn't watching. She discovered me putting Kitty into the dryer though. I shut the door as quickly as I could, and explained that Kitty needed to dry off from his "bath," but Tralee stayed by the dryer door, pounding on it, and crying for Kitty. This lasted about ten minutes, and then I gave in and got a very damp Kitty out for Tralee to play with. She sighed a sigh of relief, and ran far away (from me) into a safe corner of the house while she comforted her fuzzy friend.

There are other symptoms which very much tell me Tralee has come down with a serious case of the Kitty Disease. I'm afraid that with a softy like Jim (seriously, Tralee has him wrapped around her little finger) we might have a cat in the not-so-distant future. All it will take will be for Tralee to look up at him with her big brown eyes, brimming with tears, and asking her Daddy if she could PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have a kitty. He'll be a goner for sure. The thing is, I REALLY don't want to have another animal. I might make a deal that once Corky has found her way to doggy heaven, we can get another animal.

This is my only other concern, I REALLY don't want Tralee to turn into a crazy cat lady. I'll put my foot down at ONE! Only ONE! It's my opinion that people with copious amounts of cats (more than three) living with them are a little (or a lot) off their rocker. It might be cute that my daughter has the Kitty Disease, but I'll be damned if I let it escalate into Crazy-cat-lady-ites.