giddy

Today was Josh's last day of MBA school, and Monday will be his first day of Med school. So, we are taking advantage of this summer break and going on vacation!

Ok, what kind of a summer break is 4 days? Actually we are just going to drive up to Omaha tomorrow, go to the temple, get a room, sleepover, go to the amazing Omaha zoo, and then drive home! It's only a 29 hour vacation, but I love getting a hotel b/c of the continental breakfast. I know, continental breakfasts usually suck, but I always get excited to eat "out." I was a deprived child, ok? We never stayed in hotels unless we were moving, or the other one time when we drove to coredalaine aka. Cour'd Alene ,Idaho (or however you spell it). So, I get excited to stay in a hotel.

Of course, I am excited to go to the temple, too. It will be (get ready) the first time we've gone together since we moved here a year ago. I am looking forward to holding Josh's hand in there.

And my friend Heidi is about to have her baby girl, I am so thrilled for their family! I can't wait to meet Amelia's new friend. :D

On a spiritual note, I got set-apart as the Visiting Teaching Coordinator on Sunday. Can I just say holy cow, I feel the difference. I am so grateful for blessings. I hardly know the majority of the women in our ward, so I needed it. And I already have seen how the blessing has blessed my life. It is very sweet.
We also gave a book of mormon to our new next door neighbors from Kenya on Sunday. I bore my testimony to them. It was exhilarating. I am so thrilled to be going through this! It was super scary, but once I opened my mouth it was not hard at all. I felt the sweetness of the holy ghost when I did that. I really hope that they are reading the book, it would be painful to me if they did not feel the same sweetness I feel when I read it. Of course, I was a dork and stuttered all over my words, but I hope they felt how sacred and special that book is to me.

Well, now I feel like I should end my blog post the same way you end a prayer! Anyway, I will hopefully have time to post a blog this weekend to show you the fun times we had on our summer break.

OH, and I sewed last night! I finally sewed some fabric to make a tablecloth. It was real hard. It was a rectangular shape, and all I did was sew straight. Good first project to warm me up to harder ones.

GMA = Good Morning Amelia

Ahh, yes- another video of one of my children. This one you have to watch if you want to see Amelia's morning smiles. She is so precious to us. She definitely has captured our hearts! She is a cuddle bug, too. She still loves to lie on your chest, wide awake, just looking at whatever. I think it roots from when she was first born and I held her like that almost all the time. She was a baby that had a hard time "transitioning"- meaning she had a hard time breathing normally. They told me to hold her on my chest as much as possible so she could hear my heart beat and follow my pattern of breathing. To any of you out there pregnant or with a newborn I highly recommend it. I think I adjusted better to the new baby by doing that. Amelia and I have such a bond now. It is very special.

Amelia's 2 month numbers

She weighs 12 lbs. 6 oz.
Length is ... I think they said 23 1/2.
Head is something like 16 cm.

Those numbers equal out to her being in the 85th percentile. The Dr. was impressed, and I am very happy! I just pulled out her 3-6 month clothes and washed them. She has a ton more cute outfits of this size than she had of 0-3 month size. I am excited to start playing dress-up with her! Does anybody know a good place to buy cute headbands? I need some different colors for her, and would really like some original styles (if that's possible with a headband!) I am horrible at making bows, so... I'm looking to purchase finished ones!

Josh went to the Dr. yesterday. The Dr. said that back injuries can take 6-8 weeks time to heal completely, so we're just going to wait it out and pray that he doesn't end up with chronic back pain for the rest of his life.

"No More..." what???

Look who surprised me last night in song. On the video this was probably his 3rd time singing it. He sang it twice before I got the camera. Holy cow. He has recently started picking up on songs like Twinkle Twinkle and The Alphabet song, but he would mix them together and say stuff like, "Now I star... Now I star," and the night before last he said the whole sentence from Twinkle Twinkle "How I wonder what you are," along with me. But this? I did no coaxing to get it out of him! I think we sang it with him one time about a week ago. He must take after his Grandpa Woody- who loves to sing and just retired from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Hmm, a mom can dream, can't she? :D

He is also getting really good at counting. He can pretty much count to 10, but I have to coax him a little bit to keep going. I hear him saying at random times "7, 8, 9!" I also hear him saying " q, r, s... q, r, s..." He is a sponge. It makes me glad I don't swear. At least, not very often. ;)

About his diaper, thanks for all your helpful ideas! We are going to check out a book from the library for Conrad to help get him familiar with the whole potty training deal. I am very skeptical that he will potty train easily. I originally had set in my mind he would be ready to potty train around the same time as Amelia! (They say girls are easier to potty train, and they do it when they're younger.) In the meantime, I may try duct tape or putting his diaper/clothes on backwards. Thanks Aubre! Oh, and to Jen: yah he can take his shorts off. That is how this crappy situation started. No pun intended, hardy har har!

SOS

Conrad figured out how to pull off his diaper while wearing a onesie.

:O

Yesterday at naptime I found him, diaperless, but still wearing his onesie top.

Any ideas?

I opted to give him a cold bath after vs. his normal luxurious warm one. He is such a good kid, though! He didn't even cry! He just kept saying, "water please." And then when we put him in time out, he just sits there, quiet and still. No screaming, no hitting, no trying-to-ease-his-way-out. I don't get it. I am the luckiest mother. And yet I am complaining about this poop fiasco.

I am totally welcoming ideas. Please tell all your friends and family to drop me a suggestion. :)

Good news amidst turmoiling times

I am coming home to Utah in September for Erin's mission homecoming! That's right, Josh and I decided that I really needed to go home. Why? 1-Conrad needs to see his cousins and not grow up without knowing them, and 2-I haven't seen my baby sister since Conrad was 6 months old! I told her when she left that when she got back I might either be pregnant with a baby or have a newborn. At the time, I didn't think we'd have our next baby so quickly, of course. She came faster than we anticipated! Anyway, I dearly miss Erin, Conrad misses his cousins (specifically Carly and Alyssa lately), I am really homesick for family, and I really really need to take Amelia to meet her family members.
For those of you in Utah I will arrive on Sunday the 14th (the day after Conrad's 2nd b-day) and leave Saturday the 27th. Erin comes home on the 17th, so I'm thinking of spending my time with the Shepherd side the first few days after my arrival until Erin gets home. (If that's OK with them! Though I'm sure they'll be happy to see their cute grandkids!)
I just wanted to warn my side of the family! Don't feel left out. Josh's parents are leaving on vacation during my 2 week stay, so I felt like it would be best to see them while they are there! Plus, Erin won't be home yet, so I won't be missing out on the crazy parties that will come along with her arrival.
I just hope I can do it all minus my helpful husband. :(

Pictures and video for Grandma's and Grandpa's & anybody else interested in our 2 kids

Alright- here are new pictures of Amelia, though they don't look much different than the last ones! I am taking her in on Thursday for her 2 month check-up. Though she'll be 2 months and a week or so. My Dr. was away on vacation, and now he's booked up until then. :( About a week ago I weighed her with me on my scale and she weighed in at 12 lbs. exactly. So, I really think she's about average size now. :)


Conrad really wanted to "have it please," and "ahhn Conrah" (want Conrad/camera). He loves these sunglasses we found in our backyard. If they happen to be yours, you can have them back! Our next door neighbors didn't claim them. Conrad LOVES to look at the pictures of himself on the camera.

It's boring, but it's a peak into our baby girl's temperament. She's a good baby, not much crying going on, unless it's time to eat or sleep. And Josh was so good to work some gas bubbles out of her tonight because she was writhing and crying in pain. I ate raddiccio and endive twice yesterday. I don't think I can eat them anymore. :( She was very unhappy for about 1/2 an hour tonight. Is that TMI? Sorry if it is!

Another Post

They say things come in bunches (or in 3's, right Mom?). Well, we've had a minor unfortunate week.

1-Josh ran over some wierd metal thing in the road, and had to have some repairs on The Delorian ('88 Nissan Pulsar). Not as expensive as we thought it might be. We were looking at buying a van, can you believe it? We were afraid they would total the car so we started searching online for a mini-van. In the end it only cost us $100, thanks to good people at our average insurance place. Josh was fine from the minor incident. We'll wait on the van, though. Maybe another year, until our next tax return. (I'm already happy to get one- better for road trips back to Utah!)

2-Josh got hurt at his mutual activity. Picture this: Frisbee Golf. Frisbee on roof. Josh on side of roof hanging on ledge with his mid-section. Josh gets frisbee off roof. Josh pushes off roof. Josh over-compensates pushing and falls too far back. Josh breaks fall with his heel. Josh hits hard on his tail-bone. Josh now is limping around with a purple ankle. And tremendous lower back pain. Josh's new best friend? Heat wraps on his lower back. And painkillers. And muscle relaxers. Poor Josh. We hope it's nothing skeletal and that he can heal without any major surgery. I also hope he doesn't have chronic back pain for the rest of his life. He gets up and sits down like I did when I was pregnant! Verrry....ssssllllooowwwlllyyy.

3-Amelia is having a hard time. She has a love-hate relationship with her binky. Sometimes she loves it, sometimes she hates it. I can't figure out why. I'm wondering if she would be better off without it, to figure out how to fall asleep on her own. Yet, she may find her thumb to suck on and I really don't want that! (I sucked my thumb until I was 9 years old. I had to have braces, and I was teased relentlessly by friends and family. You know who you are. At least, I know who you are!) Sometimes she does find her hand, and so I'm sure the idea of a thumb-sucker is still possible at her age.

4-Conrad's favorite word/phrase is: "make a mess!" Do I need to go on with this? He loves making messes. Our scolding translates to praise for him. ???????? I don't get it. Cereal in the morning. Sandwich at lunch. Toys from the toybox. Rice from dinner (which is miserable to try to clean up). Kitchen tools from drawer. Laundry out of the baskets. Poop from the diaper (yes, he did it again today. I ran out of onesies and put him down to his nap not even thinking about it).

So, when you put together the above items on a mom, you get a not-so-happy mom. Oh, and Josh has tons of homework. A 12 page paper due on Wednesday. A 15 minute presentation on Monday. Something else on Tuesday. I lose track of it all. So, you put together a crying baby, a hobbling husband, a mess-making menace, and a sleep-lacking mother. Can you do the math because I can't anymore. I have to go do something. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure it's got something to do with one of those 4 things.

I'll get through it I'm sure. This is just what motherhood is all about. It's all about being stretched out just a little bit more so you can handle worse things down the road. Thank heavens we have ice-cream, graham crackers and frosting, and fruit snacks. Those things will help stretch me out, too!

Talk Excerpt

Push pause on my music before you play this so you can hear it clearly.

Many of you probably saw that Elder Ballard's talk, which encourages members to join the discussion online about our beliefs, was featured in the July Ensign. The Church just released this new video, using the text of Elder Holland's last conference talk about continuing revelation. It is a powerful video and one that gives the message we want to share with others about our faith.

By watching the video you are helping this video become one of the top videos that people will find on Youtube about the Church, rather than those that are inaccurate about our faith and history.

Elder Holland came to our Stake Conference about a 1 1/2 months ago. Let me tell you, he is a powerful speaker. We were all humbled by his words.

More of the photos of Amelia

I wanted y'all to see more pictures of Amelia that my friend Aubre took, and she posted them on her photo blog. So, I thought I'd give her some traffic on her photo blog and post the link here.
AMELIA'S PICTURES
Please leave her a comment so she knows you liked her work! I know that I did! And if you are a member of my family you should have received a Birth Announcement by now.
(Except for Kim and Ethan-only b/c y'all don't have an address yet, and p.s. Good LUCK on having your baby tomorrow!!!!!!!! We are praying for you! Yes, Kim-the-girl is having a girl after 3 boys! We are so excited!)

We had Visitors!!!

First off, here are a few pictures of Amelia smiling:

On Saturday our sister-in-law Lea came to visit from Utah! (She was staying in Omaha so it wasn't as long of a drive). She brought along her 3 girls and we had such a good time seeing them again!

We went to the Historic Liberty Jail, hung out and had hamburgers for dinner. It was a riot!

By the time they had to go Conrad had made really good friends with his cousins. First Alyssa and Conrad hugging:

Then Carly and Conrad "hugging"

Then Conrad and McKall having a struggle. Conrad would hug her, but McKall was pushing him away. When we would say McKall's name he would say, "Loud!" Mac basically lets you know when she's not happy! :)

Conrad is really missing Alyssa and Carly and McKall and Lea. He will still at random times say, "Where Alyssa go? Where Carly go? Where Lucy---uh, Lea go? Where Mc{insert a struggle with the consonants}Kall go? He really misses you guys! I don't know if you ever look at my blog, but we really enjoyed seeing you and obviously Conrad really misses you, too!

Muchos Gracias

In Regards to the previous post my Question has been answered. Thank you very much Tom and KK, I hope you enjoy my music. :)

Question for the music know-it-alls

So, I have yet to hear a song on the radio here in Mo-town that I heard in Utah. And, I heard the group's name once but can't remember it. Anyway, they sound like Queen and the song has the following lyrics: AND know that these are the lyrics as I have interpreted them to be, so they are probably wrong all over the place!!!

I can be brown, I can be blue, I can be violet sky, I can be purple, I can be hurple, I can be anything you like.
How can I help you How can I help you How can I help yourself? Should've been older, should've been bolder, walk out the door.
I try to be just like Chris Cagle, but only looks were to sell. I try real hard to be funny, mmm, but ...... something something something...tonight!

I want to put it on my playlist because I really like it, but I can't find it.

P.S. I added a couple of Flight of Conchords songs to my playlist. Business Time and Jenny. They are long songs, sorry, but if you've never heard them I recommend it. It's basically a comic skit. Funny!

Me Me Me

I am: all of a sudden a mother of 2
I know: that I am the happiest now than I ever have been.
I want: 1 chin. not 2.
I wish: that I was more intellectual, I mean... just an intellect.
I hate: being scatterbrained.
I miss: my first grade teacher, Mrs. Claudia Matkin from Texas. If you meet her, tell her I want to be her pen-pal again.
I fear: how I will die

I feel: floppy and chubby
I hear: the a/c running and Amelia
I smell: basement
I crave: water

I search: for a way to lose weight even though I eat like a cow. Wait, I kinda am one. hmm?
I wonder: how many kids we will have and can I handle another one. I love: my dear, sweet, patient husband.
I ache: to please those around me.
I care: about my grandma's
I always: can't decide.

I am not: very nice all the time
I dance: when Josh isn't watching, Josh thinks I dance goofy.
I sing: a lot, especially to Conrad.
I cry: when I'm tired.
I don't always: pray every day.
I write: fast. But not fast enough for me!
I win: at My blog. Nobody else has a blog about me.
I lose: my sanity at 11:45 am when both kids are crying and it's lunchtime and I'm starving. FEED ME!
I never: wake up early enough
I listen: to the monkey in my head dancing with his pants off (inside joke)
I can usually be found: escaping to blog, or nursing Amelia
I am scared: of dogs because I got bit by one when I was 4. (RIP Cassie the cockerspaniel)
I need: to take care of myself before I take care of others.
I am happy about: eating out. Even to McDonald's!!!
I think: trees are my new crush.

tag, you're it

8 weeks old today

Amelia had a photo shoot today. This post and the next post are all about her. Here is my lovely lady:
Sleeping the morning away... this was at 10 am.
She has started smiling! This picture only captures a small version of her smiles.
Her best smiling time is when she first wakes up in the morning (at about 7 am, yes ladies and gentlemen she is sleeping from 10:30 pm to 7 am!)
Here she is all doll'd up for the day, as purty as ever. By the way, to my next door neighbors that don't read this blog: Sorry about the last couple days. Since she's learned how to smile, she's also learned how to assert herself vocally. Yes, she has become quite the crier during the middle of the day. At least it's not in the middle of the night. :)

Blessing Dress Pictures

I mentioned before that I didn't take enough pictures of Amelia in her blessing dress. So, today I made sure my batteries were charged (that was actually the reason why I didn't take more) and got clicking away.

Uh-Oh

Conrad has recently figured out how to pull off his pants during naptime/bedtime. He is normally happy to just hang out talking to himself before I come get him... but... here is the catch: now he has figured out how to take his diaper off. AAAAAH!!! On Sunday Josh found him bare-bottomed, luckily, his diaper was just wet and Conrad had not pee'd anywhere.

But on Tuesday afternoon when I walked into his room the first thing he said to me was, "dirty...dirty!" It stunk in there, too. You can guess the next part... AAAAAAAH! I threw Conrad into the tub while I carefully pulled the sheets off his crib. The best part about this (I know, can you believe there is any good in this story?) was that he kept the "dirt" on his sheets. None of it was on his face, or on the crib rails, or on the walls. Phew. He didn't try eating it!!! ha ha. So, we are putting the onesies back on him, permanently. I stopped putting them on under his clothes because it's the summer, but- sorry, kid, a Mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

Leaving you on a happy note: my adorable family. Notice "conrad eating red circle!"

Amelia is a dad look-alike, isn't she? ...sorry Josh, she's a lot prettier than you though. :)

Water Fountain

Today was Park Day! Conrad had a BLAST!
here he is sucking-in from the shock of the cold water
I don't really know what's going on here. LoL!!! It's a funny picture though!
Getting soaked
Dripping Wet!
At the very beginning of this video you will hear Conrad's friend Danny say, "I haven't ever seen Conrad this happy!" I thought that was funny, so I had to post it on here. Conrad really enjoyed it! I think we will go again!

Her First White Dress

Yesterday Josh blessed Amelia Jane at church in sacrament meeting. He did such a good job.
Grandma Cindy sent this beautiful blessing dress for Amelia to wear. She looked so special and beautiful. Thanks Grandma Cindy! This picture above is right after sacrament meeting. We had to hurry to help with our callings so I didn't ask to have more pictures taken.
After church I took a few photos of Amelia. They didn't turn out very well, and she was kind of cranky so I didn't try turning her onto her back.
Now I regret it though, her dress was so beautiful. I may have to pose her again in her dress so you can see how amazing it was. Cindy has a friend that makes these dresses, so if you would like one you have to give her plenty of time. They are so intricate and detailed.

On Saturday night I got a little emotional. I was thinking about how momentous of an occassion this was. She will wear 3 white dresses in her life, each for a very special purpose. Being the mother of a girl has humbled me in an indescribeable way. I just feel like I need to do an extra good job of raising her because of what she will grow to do. She is going to be a mother! Being a mother is not an easy job. And I need to teach her how to be a good one. I feel like I have a lot to learn about being a mother, and yet I know that she will follow my example. So, I am humbled. My heart is full thinking about it.

Happy Forth ;)

Conrad and Amelia in their first outfits for the day:

The above picture is before we went to a local carnival. Conrad drank so much cherry limeade that once we got home I had to change his whole outfit.

Last year our townhouses put on a spectacular 4th of July party. They planned it for about a month. Well, now that Josh is on the board he gets roped into things like planning this sort of thing. This year, however, they planned it in 1 day. On my birthday (the 3rd of July) they decided to go ahead with it so Josh made a flyer for it. Josh also went around to the 11 or 13 firework stands here in Riverside and asked for firework donations. The next day he ended up going and buying all of the food for it. On the 4th he ended up setting practically the whole thing up. It was basically him and another member of the board that took care of everything. The other 3 members were either gone or ...hmm, I don't know where the 1 dude: Tom S. was. I guess that makes that he was gone, too.

But the best part about this whole thing was that Josh got to set off the fireworks that were donated. That probably balanced out all of the work he had to put into it.

Josh was the Pyro-maniac-man. He got to light off about $200+ worth of fireworks that were donated to the Townhouses. There were fireworks going constantly for about 3 hours. Josh was in his glory! Once he got home (I came home to put Conrad to bed at about 10 pm) he was all jittery from the excitement!
Meanwhile Amelia slept the WHOLE TIME! Yay! She didn't mind the LOUD pops and bangs.


Heidi shared her blanket with me, we had a grand old time popping those mini-party fireworks with our boys.
This is an example of one of the fireworks Josh got to set off. They don't let you do this kind in Utah! Once the firework show was finished somebody mentioned "You would be arrested and booked into jail by now if you did this in Utah!"

If you blow up this picture you might be able to see some of the carnage.
...this one too.
Conrad has made friends with these 2. Dave is our home teacher and his wife Elizabeth is just a whole bunch of fun. He hung out with them so I was able to take this picture!
We had a nice fourth of July. We went to a carnival during lunchtime and watched a bunch of rides (we were too cheap to go on any). Watching the rides was good enough for Conrad. He was pretty enthralled with the flying elephants and the magic carpet ride and the merry-go-round. He really enjoyed the kettle corn. The next day he was a good boy and slept in until 10!

Flashback Friday, Happy 4th of July!

Above is a picture of me as a little 3 or 4 year old (I'm not sure how old I was honestly). Below is Conrad back in December. These pictures confirm to me who he looks like! What's your opinion?
p.s. Josh was in his glory tonight. I'll tell more later! Let me just say one word: Pyro!

Sneak Preview

I just couldn't bear to not show you a glimpse of the photos Aubre took of Amelia. Here are her feet (obviously). She totally has Josh's feet and toenails, it's hilarious! It is so amazing to have kids.

Sleeping Beauty

We took these photos tonight, and I am also excited to let y'all know that I got the photos back of Amelia from my friend Aubre, and I can't wait to get rolling with them. I will post some on here, but I want to make a birth announcement with them first. So, just wait a little bit please!