Oh Boy

We found out we are expecting a boy in May! I was happily surprised. How can you be surprised, you ask? It turned out to be one of the two genders, and it is human. A real surprise would be, "Congratulations, he's a handsome little duckling." I was surprised because I just had a feeling it would be a girl. Plus, since I only have a sister and never grew up with boys in the house, even the fact that we have one boy is still amazing. I'm excited for Isaiah to have a brother so close in age.

Isla's reaction was a little different. Since she found out there was a baby in here, she has been calling it a she. She has been picking out girly outfits. She had been coming up with her favorite girl names. She has been dreaming about what she and her sister could do together. When I told her it was a boy, it's almost like she went through the five stages of grief.

A: Isla, I found out something very important about this baby today. We found out that it is a baby boy!
I: (With a smirk that says, "You're telling a funny joke.") Noooo. It's a sister!
A: Actually it's a boy. We have pictures.
I: Well, it's hard to see in there. It's all black and gray. Maybe it's a girl.
A: Nope, it's a boy.
I: Well I DON'T WANT ANOTHER BABY ISAIAH! Maybe we can just get a girl instead.
A: Well, we really can't change it. It's just going to come out and it will be a boy.

She then forlornly goes back to doing puzzles. I don't hear anything from her for another 10 minutes.

I: Well, we will see when he comes out of the cracks in your belly. (Stretch marks, I am pretty sure).

So she has definitely gone through the first four stages. When she gets to acceptance, I will let you know. Unless planning for the 4th baby to be a female counts as acceptance?

UPDATED: We finally got our scanner to cooperate and I changed the picture to my favorite one. He looks so cozy in there.

Family Photoshoot

Here are a few of our favorites. Thanks Grandpa Glenn for taking them, 

and Aunt Hayley for managing the talent.

Cloth is Back

So we cloth diapered Isaiah from the time he was two weeks until eight months old. It was surprisingly easy, and I really came to love cloth diapering. The benefits: 1) you don't have to continually buy diapers and wipes; 2) no pee leaks or poo explosions, ever; 3) no diaper rash, ever; 4) no harmful chemicals; 5) cloth diapered bums are so darn cute.

Caring for the diapers wasn't hard, especially once we got a diaper sprayer that attached to the toilet. I never dunked a diaper or anything sick like that, I found that cloth diapering really wasn't any more disgusting than regular diapering. After all, with either method your baby still craps in his pants and you have to clean it up. The difference was that I flushed gross stuff down the toilet rather than wrapping it up in a diaper burrito and putting it in a pail that I (ok Brett) had to later throw in the dumpster.

Well we were only able to make it for eight months. That is because all of a sudden, around eight months of use, the diapers would smell rank after just getting wet. It was positively, eye-watering-ly, disgusting. And Isaiah started to get the nastiest diaper rash I have ever seen. He had never had a rash prior, and this rash was much worse than Isla had ever had. The rash he was getting was actually more of a chemical burn. He had blisters that would peel. It almost looked like a sunburn, nothing like regular diaper rash. I tried stripping the diapers a variety of ways but I couldn't get anything to work. I researched and kept trying different things, but in the end I bought some Huggies and gave the cloth diapers a rest for a while. As it turns out we had an ammonia build-up problem. So after letting the diapers sit unused for months, I boiled them, soaked them overnight with the ammonia removal stuff you use for live pet fish, and then washed them again. And you know what? It worked. So cloth is back in our house.

Oh and in case you are wondering, I use primarily Bum Genius 4.0s. I also have Flip covers which I use with Flip inserts and Bumboo fitteds.

And on a different note, I finally gave Isla her birthday present from Brett and me. I bought it so long ago (can't even remember when) and I have been saving it in my closet, waiting to give it to her. I am so jealous.

Disney princess dress up set: five dresses, two pairs of gloves, capelet, light-up glass slippers, and Rapunzel hair. We have to invite her girlfriends over soon. Today she didn't want to wear regular clothes. She is currently dressed as Cinderella. I can see how this may save me a lot of laundry in the near future. But we may also die of glitter inhalation.

A.L.A.D.

This year, my grandma gave me money for Isla's birthday so we could go buy her something. She doesn't really need any clothes and definitely doesn't need any toys, so instead of buying something I thought that we would get her a piggy bank and just give her the money. And a plus is that we could teach her about tithing. Anyway, I was thinking a simple, pink piggy bank. I got on Amazon and let her look at pictures of coin banks the other day just to give her an idea and to see if she wanted any one in particular. Here is one that I like:

It's nothing fancy I know, but it is what I am going for. It's wearing a tutu (which you can't see), so that is a plus. Today, she is playing legos and says:

I: We forgot to get a something to put the money in.
(Sidenote, I love how a lot of her talk is just disjointed nonsense. This at least was a complete sentence, but most of the time she brings something up out of the blue, gets confuzzled and makes no sense, then gets frustrated and says "I don't know what I'm talking about.")
A: Oh, you mean a piggy bank.
I: Yes, a pinkgy bank.
A: Did you like the pink pig with the tiara and tutu?
I: Yes, but what if we get that one that's a bum? And what does it do when you put money in?
A: It toots?
I: Yes! It toots. So we get the bum that toots? Then we could put it on the bookshelf. Wouldn't that be a great idea?

And for those of you who don't know what we are talking about:

Yes, the blessed thing actually makes a farting noise with every deposit. I would probably be a better mother if I got her the pig, right? Because butt banks and farts are gross and inappropriate, right? Or, should I be awesome and just buy her the butt? Because she asked for it. 

What do you think?

Birthdays, Pumpkins, Hail, Oh My!

We had three birthdays in two days:

Grandpa and Lauren's birthday was the 16th.

And Isla's third birthday was on the 17th.

Her third year interview is forthcoming.

We were able to go to a pumpkin patch over the weekend with Isla's friend, Dara.

They had a stinky petting zoo where the kids fed the animals. Joy.

I don't have any good pictures of the stinky petting zoo because our hands were full trying to keep Isaiah from jumping into dirty duck water or eating the lone bunny in the pen. Also, did I mention it was stinky? Yeah, I couldn't concentrate on taking pictures. I did take a long, boring video of isla feeding a sheep, but I'll spare you.

We had a lot of fun. My favorite part was the frozen yogurt after. Yum. 

Again, no pictures. I was busy.

And lastly, did you know it hailed in our parts last week?

Those pictures are from when it was still pleasantly sprinkling. Pretty soon, the sprinkle turned into a downpour, which then turned to hail. Our parking lot was a little flash-flooded. 

Then two days after our glorious, cool rain, the temperatures were back up to 90s (100s one day). And the 80s are where we are headed today. Boo. But fall is coming soon, I can feel it.

Oh, and one more thing. For ALAD:

MUSTACHIOED

She is three!

Boo!

The kids were thinking spooky thoughts this morning.

Happy early Halloween.

Baby 3 is due in May.

Thank you, Linda! You Always Say It Better Than I Ever Could...

I met Linda during our college years while we were both attending BYU. We are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love her commentary on life. Here is a recent post of hers, and I thank her for it!

Please and Thank You: Thank you, defenders of my faith: The Book of Mormon Musical  has been on Broadway for about a year and half. It's done some touring around the U.S., will have an extended ru...

A Laugh A Day

The only poem (besides Lazy Jane by Shel Silverstein) that Brett knows by heart. I think it is pure brilliance.

There once was a boy named Chris,
Who wanted to learn how to kiss.
So he enrolled in a class
With a cooperative lass,
And now he will never miss.

T. A. Werner, age 9

Celebrating Summer 2012

Brett's first Adobe Premiere project. I think he did a great job.

A Laugh A Day: No, That's Not Play-Doh...

For the past couple of weeks, Brett has been working very hard on his thesis at his office during the after-hours. For the kids, it means not seeing Papa much; or, in Isaiah's case, not at all, because of his early bedtime. For me, it means that I am on my own from 6:30 am to 9 pm. I should clarify that Brett spoils me terribly. His office is close enough to bike to and he is generally home by 5:30. When he gets home, he does a quick evaluation of my state of being and picks up the slack, whether that means playing with the kids for a second so I can finish dinner or popping some chicken nuggets in the microwave, feeding and bathing the kids, taking over the bedtime ritual and rubbing my feet when the imps have gone to bed. Despite not having him home as usual, I have to say that I have been doing really well. When I don't expect help, I usually end up not needing it. So far I can say that the house is clean enough, errands are completed, fridge and pantry have been kept stocked, laundry has been kept at bay, bellies have been kept full, and not too much crying on their part or craziness on mine. We even threw in trips to the library and Disney. Today was a pretty good day. I picked up the photos we ordered from Costco and got them on the walls, we taught Grandma Daisy how to use FaceTime, and the kids are in bed as I write this, no tantrums. Well, "where is the punchline?" you say. This is supposed to be a laugh a day, not this is how I survived the day, by not scheduling anything and just making sure the basics of life were met...a day. Well here it is.

Isaiah and Isla actually both finished dinner at the same time today (usually Isaiah is quick and cranky to get to bed while Isla pretends her vegetables can talk and takes forever to eat), so I thought I would throw them in the tub at the same time to get them off to bed quicker. Sounds sensible, but I should know that for me, it has always been easier to deal with them one at a time, Isaiah first since Isla is distractible. Well, they take a bath, great fun, I am drenched by their vigorous splashing. I get Isla out first, wrap her up and tell her to wait for me on the couch. She throws a mini tantrum because usually after baths we wrap her up and pretend she is a baby. I get Isaiah out, immediately he escapes and runs around the house in the buff. I am fine with that, I happen to think that all babies need to be aired out once a day, to feel what it is like to be free. I get Isla dressed, go to the hallway to pick out some books. And I see this:

Too graphic? Probably.
But why tell you when I can show you?

And so, if you forgot the title of the post, it is "No, That's Not Play-Doh..." I will give you two more guesses. I try to wipe Isaiah between the legs as he is running away from me, finally I scoop him up to the changing table and slap a diaper on him. Then I hear, thump, thump, thump coming from the hallway. If you have been to our new house, you know that when Isla walks or runs on the hardwood, it sounds like a stampede of baby rhinoceros. Rhinoceroses? Rhinoceri? Anyway, it went a little like this:




Me: ISLA DON'T STEP IN THE --
Isla: Wahh, what is that? (crying)
Me: poop.

She then does a furious stamping dance and spreads it in a neat little circle around her. Well, I finish putting on his diaper, leave him in the crib, he is screaming, I am screaming at Isla not to move, she is crying because everyone else is screaming, I wipe her feet, collect the poop, flush it, wash hands, finish putting them to bed, then lysol. I know I waited until the end to lysol but at least I washed my hands.

So yeah, these past two weeks have been fine. And even though I didn't have the foresight to put a diaper on him before I got Isla ready, I know that I am getting better at this mothering business because having him poop on the floor didn't even faze me. At least it wasn't on the rug.

A Laugh A Day: Faces

A Laugh A Day: Jedi and Associates

A Laugh A Day

This cracks me up. Get it? (Sorry, I had to.)

Because It's Fun

 We recently acquired a new, nicer camera and CS 5.5 to go with it. Since then, things have been both frustrating as I am learning to use the software as well as fabulous because I have been going through all our pictures and finding some great stuff. And now that I have joined the blogosphere (so weird, never thought I would), I have somewhere to display all the fun, old pictures I find! Here are some of Isla just before her first birthday, taken by Uncle Byron.

Turning 26

It was actually MY birthday even though it seems like Isaiah is the only one eating.

Brett and the kids made me cupcakes and sang happy birthday. We had no candles so we improvised by lighting toothpicks on fire. That night was the adult session of stake conference. We had no babysitter but Brett had to sing, so he went while I stayed home. I ended up watching Pretty Little Liars by myself. This may sound sort of pathetic but I thought it was great to sit around and watch TV by myself. I get so little alone time these days. When he got back I re-watched the episode with him. An easy, low stress, great birthday I have to say. The weekend after we went to Dave and Busters and then watched The Dark Knight Rises. Oh, and I bought my customary presents for myself and put Brett's name on them. He really is the best gift-giver. He (I) got me a key necklace that has a the month of August with a crystal on the 18th to mark our anniversary, and a dress from Shabby Apple. Susan gave me some funds to go toward quilting, so fun. 

I'd say a pretty great 26th birthday. I have a great husband and great kids, family and friends who love me, the true gospel in my life, and most of all, Facebook friends who said happy birthday (haha). A good place to be by age 26.

A Laugh A Day: Throwback, Isla Dancing to Bebot

I couldn't wait until Thursday.

Disney

Today my children met their heroes. Isaiah was especially excited. He ran right to all the characters - Tigger in particular - and snuggled and kissed them. You know that stranger-danger stuff babies are supposed to have? He doesn't have it.

**Update: Videos for grandparents. I wish Isaiah could have had more snuggling time, but there were people behind us in line!