Hallelujah!

Lydia is currently upstairs entertaining Luke, who is in his crib.  They are alternately shrieking and laughing at each other, and occasionally she pops up yelling "peek-a-boo!" over the side of his crib.  I stopped doing dishes and went in their room trying to be a part of the fun, but Lydia told me emphatically, "you go back downstairs and wash the plates right now!"  (She said this both times I attempted to crash the party.) This could be the start of something beautiful--my children actually playing together without me in the middle of it all!!!

In other news, my mom, sister, and sister-in-law were here this weekend for "Girls Weekend."  It was fabulous--good food, better company, and we also saw the Broadway play "Wicked," which was wicked awesome!  It's been a long time since I've been to a musical and it was fun to see one again.  I also enjoyed spending time with the girls only--no kids allowed.  We live so far apart that we don't see each other often, and never without kids, so it was a great break for all of us.  Thank you husbands for watching the kids (or in Dad's case, being home alone!)  I have a great family and I love them so, so much!

This Week in Retrospect

This week has felt really busy to me, but now that I stop to think about what I accomplished it doesn't seem like much.  Really, what DID I do this week?

I think a lot of it was spent attempting to clean my house.  The good thing about our counter tops and kitchen flooring is that it hides dirt really well.  So well, in fact, that when I actually stop and look at it closely I see all the nastiness that has accumulated on those surfaces.  So, at least I got the floor mopped and the counter tops cleaned.  For some reason, they keep getting dirty again!  It can't be my kids, they are clearly very concerned about staying clean while they eat.  (This is Luke enjoying his first Biter Biscuit.)

Tuesday night I worked from 7p-1a, and it was pretty busy.  I came home from work discouraged because I felt like I had ignored one of my patients for a long time, and I could tell the family was frustrated at all the waiting they had to do.  I hate feeling like I've given sub-standard care--it really bothers me.  It's hard to balance all your patients when you have a very needy patient with needy family members also.  It can suck you in and it feels like it takes 30 minutes just to go in and give the patient some ice water. Often the 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' and unfortunately some other patients get put on the back burner for a while.  For all of you who have had bad ER experiences, just know that the nurses are trying to take care of you the best they can!  I worked on Saturday and was able to balance my patient load much better, so I felt better about my nursing abilities after that!

Friday I did some yard work and then Tyler and some of his friends, Justin and Kari, went for a 20 mile bike ride while I watched the kiddos, five in all.  The kids were great and the riders had a good time.  We had some pizza and salad and just hung out for a while after that.  It was a very enjoyable Friday.  

Last night, Tyler and I went to a Portland Trailblazers game for our monthly date night.  It was fantastic!!  The energy in the building is amazing, especially since it was a close game at the end.

We met some friends from Salem, Brett and Julia, there (they actually got the tickets for us) and it was great to get to spend time with them as well.  Date nights are great!

Today we forgot about daylight savings time and woke up 15 minutes before church started. Needless to say, we got there late.  We then came home from church and had nap time, followed by a little interview with Lydia.  Two great quotes from this interview are: (pointing to Luke) 

"That my brother, his name is Cinco."   (This is also the name of her baby doll and I think the only number in Spanish that she can remember.)

When asked how old she is, she replied "I be two."  Yes, we are teaching her to speak Ebonics so that she can go visit Uncle Aaron in Detroit on his mission and fit in with the peeps on the street. Congrats to Aaron on his call--Detroit Michigan Spanish speaking!

Lydia during a tickle attack tonight

You know you're a mom when...

..you wish for a day to yourself so you can finally clean your house!

Luke the Ladies Man

Tonight Luke army crawled his way to Lydia's baby doll on the kitchen floor and began to give her "Luke Loves"--slobbery kisses/licking and latching on to the doll's face and forehead.  We're going to have to watch him when he gets older, because he was attempting to do some serious making out with that doll, complete with sound effects. Granted, if he spit up on his girlfriend like he did on the doll, I am sure the make out session would be over and his chances of kissing her in the future would be very limited.  I tried to catch him in the act, but he became very interested in the camera once he saw it, so I had to settle for the "ravenous tiger looks up from devouring his prey" shot you see here. 

Our Week

Well, I've been remiss in blogging during the week, and since I can no longer remember more than a few days at at time, I will just have to start at Thursday.  Thursday afternoon we had lunch with Tyler's parents downtown as they passed through on their way to California.  Lydia got her very stylish birthday luggage from them, and she has not ceased dragging the bags up and down and all around the house.  She is certainly a girl.  Grandma Stoddard also made her a beautiful quilt for her bed that actually matches the paint on the walls (thank you Shirlene!)  It has four little girls on it and she randomly names them the names of her friends and cousins, boys and girls alike.  I think she's still learning that boys don't wear dresses.

Last night Tyler and I went out for our monthly date.  We went to dinner at a local upscale Mongolian BBQ restaurant (yes, there is such a thing!)  It was great food and the company was even better :)  Some of our friends watched the kids for us, and I dressed Luke up in his cute Gymboree outfit courtesy of Tyler's Aunt Diane.  I love playing dress up with my kids, although Lydia doesn't let me near as much as she used to!

As we were getting ready to leave for the babysitter's house, Lydia come over to us and said, "my (insert unintelligable word here that starts with an a) hurts."  We asked her again what hurt, and she said, "My allergies are really really bad right now."  What?  I don't even recall that my allergies have been bad recently, so she must have some amazing recall from months ago. Anyways, Tyler and I about died laughing. She's a pretty funny kid.

Today we went to Church and then enjoyed long afternoon naps.  I know most people don't, but I'm totally digging church at 8:30 am!  After awaking, Lydia and Luke suffered a tickle attack from Daddy.  I love to hear my kids laughing with my husband, I don't think there is a better sound in the world! 

ABCs

It's part of my duty as a father to dote on my daughter and show off her many, many talents and abilities. Today, she wowed us with her singing of the ABCs. She turned two a week and a half ago and it's getting harder and harder to keep up with her new phrases and songs. But this is one everyone needs to see! (PS: We did her hair and make-up extra special for this shot) :)

Encouraging Words

So today I was driving to the library with the kids.  I was singing the ABC song for the twentieth time in a row and decided to switch it up and do an opera voice at the end.  At the conclusion of my aria, Lydia yelled, "Good job Mommy!  I proud of you!"  I guess I should sing opera more often :)

You like rice?

So, last night we gave Luke rice cereal for the first time in an attempt to increase the odds of him sleeping through the night.  Expecting him to hate it like Lydia did, I had bibs and burp cloths ready to mop up the mess I was sure he'd make.  He was the exact opposite--he loved it!  He was grabbing my fingers pulling my hand with the spoon toward his mouth and fussing if I took a second too long to reload the spoon.  It was still a bit messy, but he ate almost the entire tablespoon of cereal in about 5 minutes!  Sadly, he still only went about 5 hours between feedings and then reverted to every two hours, but I have faith that he will be able to go longer between feedings at night if I keep at it with the cereal.  He is a beautiful growing boy and we love him!  

Hooray for Blogs!

So, I am going to attempt (again) to blog as a way of journaling my life as a wife, mommy, and nurse.  While most of the time I feel that I go days or weeks between having experiences that may be interesting to someone else, I have little moments every day that I think "I want to remember this forever."  I hope that I get on here often enough to record some of them for myself and my posterity, and if they are interesting to anyone out there, then that will be an added bonus!

P.S.  Tyler is going to upload some of our old posts from our now-defunct website, so if you see posts from many moons ago it's not because we've had a blog for six months and haven't told anyone.  We're just back-blogging!  

New Year’s fun with Wii

Yeah, well, we’re a little late getting our New Year’s blog posted. Was anyone actually expecting something anyway? First things first, Happy New Year! 

We spent the New Year’s weekend with Grandma/Grandpa Stoddard, Travis and Melissa and crew. Bre and Tony joined us for a little bit, too. Shelly and Eric? Where were you guys? 

We had a good time, of course. We went to the mall and played on the squishy Mercedes Benz toys while Grandma/Grandpa shopped and shopped. We watched some sporting events and ate whatever was available. We even put Travis to work, and Ashley and I both have wills now. But the most fun was probably had while playing on Trav and Melissa’s Wii. It was intense all around - some Mario Kart, some tennis and some boxing (you gotta watch the video!). The Grandpa vs. Karsten boxing matches were with little doubt the big-ticket events. Despite Grandpa’s valiant efforts, he was no match for the reigning, undisputed super-duper lightweight division champ - Karsten. 

Thanks to Travis and Melissa for allowing us to crash their party. And thanks to the humble champ for giving up his prized bunk-bed for us to sleep on. And thanks to Grandma/Grandpa Stoddard for a good show.