New Blog

I decided to start another blog because I love following money saving blogs and want to share what I find, as well as other things like crafts, but don't want to clutter up my family blog. For now, I'm just testing it out, but anyhow...let me know if it's totally lame...so far I haven't found any stellar deals that I wanted to post.

Meals, deals & Squeals

"Don't drop it in there, Daddy!"

So, I was sitting on the toilet, enjoying a regular old relief cycle, when in walks Kimball. This in itself isn't abnormal. When just the family is home, I usually don't lock the door because, well, I'm married to Judy, Kimball needs a good example of how to go potty while he's learning the same art, and Cameron is just too "wiggle", as Kimball would say (that means little). So, in strolls my 2-and-a-half-year-old and sets a couple suction cups on the counter (they had been in his window holding up an angel light display that Judy had just taken down, and the suction cups were needed back in the shower to hold up the shaving mirror). As he gently sets them there on the counter, next to me on the toilet, he casually remarks to me "Careful! Don't drop it in there, Daddy!"

White Christmas Eve

Who would've thunk we'd have anything close to a white Christmas in Oklahoma? I was shocked to wake up on Christmas Eve and find this outside...too bad it's freezing rain and we can't play in it. But at least it looks pretty cool.

Update:This is our back door which has an overhang. The snow drifted like crazy in the backyard and in some places was 10 inches deep. We found ourselves in the middle of the worst storm Oklahoma has ever seen and got to have a white Christmas! Christmas day we took Kimball out in the snow and had a blast making snow angels and belly flopping into the drifts.

I won!

The owners of our complex held a Christmas poem contest and I won 3rd place! My super special prize was a poinsettia. Anyhow, here's the poem:

Simple Pleasures
I never knew the joys that I might
Have until my boys squealed with delight
At the Christmas tree with lights all aglow,
And pictures of fluffy white, fresh-fallen snow.
The stress of the season has weighed on us all
With thoughts of what gifts to buy, and on which friends to call,
But two little boys help me keep it all straight,
As they bring me to frequently contemplate
The reason for this season we so dearly love,
The birth of our Savior, a gift from above.
To feel my baby’s warm breath on my neck
Will help to keep all of my worries in check.
Just watching my toddler’s innocent smile
Reminds me that all of this effort’s worthwhile.
I hope that we all will be sure to take measure
To find in this season each simple pleasure.

26!

Yesterday was Dale's 26th birthday. Because Tuesday nights are his busiest with school, we decided to celebrate on Sunday with his brother's family (Greg) and some friends from law school. Greg and Dana graciously hosted the party at their house and their kids decorated and made cards. It was so cute!

Last year I made Dale a hamburger cake, so this year I decided to make a pizza cake. I thought it turned out pretty well :) Apparently 26 is too many candles, but Dale claims he did it in one breath because whatever candles he didn't blow out, he put out between his fingers before inhaling again, much to the dismay of the mothers present.

On Dale's actual birthday, we celebrated with just the four of us with hamburgers, baked fries, and Mom Rex's no-bake cheesecake.

I'm so grateful for my wonderful husband, and to his mother who gave so much to bring him into this world and raise him to be such a wonderful man. I cannot imagine where I would be if I hadn't met Dale, and don't care to. I wouldn't trade my life with him for the world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALE!

That's Skill!

I never thought I'd be impressed by anyone's ability to play a radio, but I was wrong. Kimball has learned to change the station to whatever music he prefers. We've always played the classical station for him as he's going to sleep but recently whenever I go to check on him, the radio is playing country or rock and he's snoozing peacefully. He never ceases to amaze me with the things he learns and accomplishes!

Keeping Busy

I've been looking for fun things to do with Kimball to keep us busy and had seen on several blogs the idea to do placemats with pressed leaves. The problem was, they all required contact paper and I don't have any, and don't want to buy any for the sake of saving money and trying to prevent an overabundance of junk. Then, our city sent out a mailer and suggested doing it with wax paper.
They aren't the fanciest looking placemats but it was cheap, super easy and fun. Plus, I don't have to feel terrible when they get destroyed which is just inevitable with a toddler.
We collected leaves last week and pressed them in our phone book. Kimball loved (!) this. He got to carry around a bucket. Then, you arrange everythin on the wax side of the paper, put another piece of wax paper on top (wax side down) and iron them together. The iron melts the wax and glues it all together.
Now we'll have to see if Kimball will be able to grasp the concept of placemats at dinner tonight :).

T is for Trouble!

I got in trouble with my parents for not keeping them updated enough regarding their grand kid's growth and development. I apparently never told them that Cameron is crawling now and has been for several weeks. Oops... Yeah, he's crawling, pulling himself to a stand, starting to climb little obstacles. I just love this little boy! Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sure seems like everything goes by so much faster with babies the second time around. He eats solids - aka mush - like a pro and is always surprising me with what he can do. Oh, and he has 7 teeth. I'm expecting the next one any time now. Getting teeth early is one thing I could do without, but he got his first at 3 1/2 months.

Kimball is "potty trained," well, mostly. He is so proud of his underwear and refuses to use potty seats, so it's pretty hilarious to watch him climb up on a full size potty and balance there. He still has accidents fairly regularly and I have to keep reminding myself that it's a process and can't really be learned perfectly in a day or week for most kids. I never realized how much sleep you can lose with a potty training child. Some nights he sleeps for 6 plus hours without needing to go; other nights it's 2 or 3 times in that 6 hours. If he does have an accident at night, it's uncomfortable, and all he wants to do is climb into bed with me a cuddle...that sneaky little boy! Those nights are extra fun when he and Cameron both decide to wake up several times.

Wow

Welcome to the football belt. OU has a game on Oct. 31st, and I thought, well, people can still answer the door to hand out candy right? Come on, it's Halloween!

Wrong. Local police have said that any trick-or-treating here should be done on Friday night instead of on Halloween because of the game.

Suddenly a song from Alladin is playing through my head..."A whole new world..."

Kimball is going to be a purple dinosaur this year. I thought about getting him a Pirate patch for one of the eyes and taping down a horn. Then he could be a one eyed one horned flying purple people eater, but for simplicity's sake, this is what he'll be (that is, if I can convince him to wear it on the day we want him to):

Aargh!

Cameron is one snuggly little boy which I love, love, love!
But...it's causing tons of problems at night. He falls asleep initially when I lay him down in his crib, but often wakes up 2 hours later and commences to wake up regularly throughout the night. He isn't hungry. As soon as I pick him up, he nuzzles into me and falls right back to sleep, at least until I lay him down again. I've tried letting him cry it out, which is supposed to help him sleep longer since he put himself to sleep in his crib, but there's no change. He still wakes up an hour or two later.
Nap times are a similar story where he only sleeps for 1/2 an hour if he's in his crib, and can't cry himself to sleep. He easily cries for over 1/2 an hour, like right now, and he's still going strong.
Any suggestions? I love snuggling with him but I'm pretty sure it will only get worse if the current situation continues and as he becomes more stubborn with age. It's so hard listening to him scream!

Hey look! I'm front and center on OU Law Schools website.

I'm in a blue shirt on the front row.

UPDATE: Ok, it's gone now, but here's the pic:

6 Months!

Our "little" Cameron is 6 months old already. I took him in for his well-check and he weighed 18 lbs and was 27.5 inches tall. Here's monthly pictures of him up to this point (it's amazing how fast they change!):

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months
Isn't he just so darn cute?!

Law school is amazing...

Among the doldrums of my contract case book, I found this glorious gem:

"The computer came with an operating system, without which it was useful only as a boat anchor."

Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., 105 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir.1997).

Loyaties

For those of you who were concerned about where our loyalties were last Saturday, we were "loyal, strong and true" and gladly cheered on our Cougars as they ousted the number 3 team!
We don't have cable in our apartment so we went to the only place we could think of to watch the game where we wouldn't get in trouble for cheering for BYU...OU law school. It was completely abandoned so we watched there and sang the fight song as we walked back to our car.
Some of Dale's classmates said they wouldn't make fun of him if BYU lost by less than 21. Ha! They also said if BYU won, he would have to wear BYU blue for this entire week.

Brothers are such a pain!

There are many times during the day when one of my boys seems to express how much of a pain their brother is. Kimball is into knocking Cameron over when he's sitting up, taking his toys away, disassembling his toys, etc. Cameron has just discovered the joys of rolling over to get places and it's hilarious to watch. He loves rolling to Kimball and grabbing onto him or whatever he's playing with. Kimball grunts his disapproval and tries to ignore him until Cameron gets in the way, then pushes him away and yells "no, no, no, NO!" This goes on until I have to intervene.
Amazingly enough, little kids are very forgiving and 10 minutes later when I put Kimball down for a nap, he wants nothing more than a hug from Cameron. Seconds after Kimball has been sent to his room for pushing Cameron, Cameron's face lights up when his big brother walks into the room.
I love my boys!

A whole new world

So, it has been a while since I posted. Here is an excerpt from an email I just sent my siblings a minute ago:

As for me, I’m alive and well and the big accomplishment is that I have kept up on all of my reading so far. It’s a trend I hope to keep up. When I had braces they needed to widen my upper jaw. The orthodontist put this nifty little crank device in the roof of my mouth and I would crank it a few times each day and slowly a gap formed between my front teeth that grew to almost a centimeter wide before I was done. The first few days of this whole cranking business really hurt as the not quite sealed part of my upper jaw pulled apart. I feel like the same thing is now happening inside my skull. Each day I crank a few times with books, analysis, and classroom discussions and several times a day my head just feels as though it is being pulled apart in all different directions. My hope is that it stops hurting so much, just like with the braces, and once it’s done expanding, I’ll hopefully be able to put everything in its right place again.

Retro

Dale's mom kept one of the outfits he wore as a baby and I've put it on both of our boys when they've reached the right age/size. Sadly, Cameron was a little big and it looked like he was in highwaters, but I only do it once for the sake of taking pictures. All I can say is, awesome! I just wish I had a picture of Dale in this outfit too!

Here's Cameron:

Here's Kimball when we put him in it:
I think they might be starting to look more like brothers.

First Impressions

Oklahoma is quite a bit different than Provo. For one, my skin isn't constantly dry. The first few days it felt like I was walking into a sauna every time I walked outside. Almost no one has sprinklers for their grass (or whatever the green stuff growing in their yard it). It's that humid. I had pictured a place similar to Utah or New Mexico with tumbleweeds and lots of dirt. That's what it looks like in the musical at least.
The streets are small! There's rarely a right or left turn lane...only on majorly busy streets. When we turn onto our road, we sit in the middle of the street blocking anyone trying to go straight. There are basically no medians/islands in the middle of the roads.
Sidewalks are precious and rare! Apparently they only started adding sidewalks about 10 years ago. When we go on walks, quite a bit of it is in the street. Thankfully most busy streets have them.
There's a lot more I've noticed but I'm sure it would bore anyone out of their minds. All in all, I like it so far.
Dale has survived his first week of law school. He studies a lot, which means we don't see him much, but it's so nice to be on the road towards the end of school. I have to brag, Dale was asked to repeat comments twice so everyone could hear him. That may not sound like much, but everyone talks about inevitably looking like morons in their law classes and being humiliated for not knowing the answer. I'm proud of my smart husband.

We're Here!

After months of packing, hours of loading, and however long it took to clean our apartment, we locked the door and said goodbye. We drove with our neighbors (Katie & Justin Ferrell) down to Albuquerque last Friday to stay with my family for a few days. We also got to celebrate my parents' 25th wedding anniversary while we were there.

At 6:00 AM Monday morning, we left for Oklahoma. We arrived at 5:00 PM, signed our lease and received the key to our new townhouse. It was hot, humid and green.

Thankfully we had Dale's brother's family help unload the truck. By the time we were done, you could hardly see the floor in our new home. One wonders how on earth we have collected so much stuff in three years of marriage?!

Since then we have kept busy unpacking and trying to keep Kimball entertained. He has adjusted quite well to the drastic changes thrust upon him. He even refers to this as "Mimall's home."

Our current apartment is 50% bigger than our previous one and I am loving the extra breathing room. We don't have stuff crammed in every corner, nook and cranny! I also love having a washer and dryer all to myself (instead of sharing one of each with 7 other apartments).

We haven't really met any of our neighbors yet because people just don't go outside when it's this hot.
We went to our new ward today and received a warm welcoming. There are so many babies! I thought BYU wards had tons of babies, well this one rivals any BYU ward I've been in! There are 4 nurseries.
I am loving the diversity that I've noticed here, unlike in Provo. I feel like this will be an enriching experience for all of us and I'm excited for Dale to start school. It means we're that much closer to being done!

Baby powdery fresh

Lately, Kimball has wanted to play with a few toys in his bed before nap time and will just fall asleep, so today I wasn't too worried when I heard him playing after I'd laid him down for his nap. It was taking longer than normal, and before long I heard noises from toys that weren't in his bed, but I decided to just wait it out and see if he would fall asleep on his own.
Soon, he came wandering out of his room with the open container of baby powder that I had seen on his changing table. When I saw it as I was laying him down, I thought, 'Hmm, I should probably move that' and decided it would be ok where it was.
Kimball also asked me to turn his fan on when I first laid him down.
As I walked in, I saw the result of a happy toddler combined with a circulating fan and a container of baby powder. Wow!
My mom told me when I first had Kimball to always take a picture first when something like this happens, mostly so you can have time to cool down, and so you can look back and laugh. So, I went and got the camera. Frankly, I find it hilarious now. It is kind of annoying to know that his entire room is covered in powder, and my vacuum can't handle it, so it will just be powdery fresh for a while, but part of me wished I had been there to see the magical world my toddler was seeing as powder flew all over his room. It probably looked pretty darn cool!
So now, my next dilema...bathe Kimball and give him a treat because he LOVES bath time, or let him sit in baby powder all day? My one concern is how much powder he has inhaled, and how much Cameron might inhale as a result of the powder slowly spreading through our apartment.

It was really hard to pretend to be mad at Kimball so as not to encourage future behavior like this because it looked like he had had the time of his life. At least our apartment will smell good for a while...I hope you like baby powder if you visit us :)

Escape from the bubble

For the 4th of July weekend, we decided to go camping with our neighbors, Katie & Justin Ferrell. We went up American Fork Canyon without reservations and after a long drive up a bumpy, eroded road in our poor old car we finally found a camp site. Granted, it was one of the rockiest campsites, but it did the trick. Thankfully we had our Thermarest pads to give us some comfort.
Kimball absolutely loved it. We were right by a stream which he got to wade in and collect rocks from. The stream was loud enough that we could barely hear the countless ATVs driving by constantly. The water was freezing, but I had to practically drag Kimball out, he was having so much fun. We had tin-foil dinners, roasted marshmallows and Starbursts, had hot cocoa, and overall loved it.

Our little explorer...so serious

Me trying to escape the freezing water...eventually Kimball kicked me off the biggest rock so he could put his rock collection there.Waiting for his pants to dry and so excited about his tower

Cameron was a little trooper and only had one period of inconsolable screaming.
It was too much effort to pull out our camera, so we just stole pictures from the Ferrells (thank you!).
On the 4th, we met up with Katie's dad and hiked Timpanogos Cave. The mountains were beautiful. It was a steep hike up tons of switchbacks, which I think would have been more bearable, but I was carrying a 15 lb baby and Dale was carrying a 24 lb toddler. We made it though, and the caves were amazing. Kimball had fun until he fell asleep in Dale's arms.

On the way up

At the cave's exit.

After our hike we drove back to Provo, enjoyed some Wendy's dollar items and unloaded the car. Later we ate Quesadillas, 7 layer bean dip and patriotic Jell-O. We were too exhausted to attempt going to watch Stadium of Fire fireworks, but we could see some from our apartment and enjoyed some smaller fireworks that the Ferrells had bought.

That night, as we were praying with Kimball before bedtime, I was reminded what this day was truly about. It hit me quite suddenly how many lives have been lost for me to enjoy all of the blessings that I have been the recipient of. I thought about my ancestors who have not only served this wonderful country, but other countries, protecting their homes, families and freedom...what they felt was worth risking their lives for. I was reminded of the many weekends I spent without my dad who was training with the Army, and all of the birthdays he missed. Despite all of those times, I would never change how I grew up because I grew up feeling safe, knowing that my dad was out there protecting me. I can never thank him enough for the sacrifice he has made to give me that feeling of security. I'm so proud to be the daughter of such a brave man.

Assembly Line

Many times, when I go to change a diaper, I feel like a worker on an assembly line because I end up doing both boys at the same time, and occasionally Cameron decides to poop right after I change him, so it goes on and on. Kimball loves climbing on the changing table and laying next to Cameron, but it gets a little crowded. Cameron doesn't seem to mind too much though.

Watch Out Ladies!

Time for a Change

It's official! We're moving to Oklahoma! Dale has committed to OU Law and will be attending there this fall. Both of us are pretty excited for the change and we've started getting ready.
Our bedroom is shrinking slowly as moving boxes are filled and piled in the corner behind Dale's dresser. A moving truck is reserved. An apartment is secured.
Speaking of this apartment...I'm so excited! The apartment we're living in currently is about 600 square feet. It is two bedrooms, but is simply too small for a family with 2 kids. We are busting at the seams! Our future apartment in OK is 900 square feet...that's like adding two more bedrooms, but dispersing the space through all the rooms. It is a 2 bed, 1 1/2 bath townhouse. It also has a washer/dryer and dishwasher!!!! No more coin-op laundry! Did I mention I'm excited?

Chub-a-lub

Cameron is proving to be quite the chubby little boy. He had his 2-month appointment and weighed in at 13 lbs 15 oz. Kimball was only 12 lbs at this age. We've already had to move him up to 3-6 month clothing because 0-3 month clothing was way too small for him. He's also tall, 24.2 inches. Both weight and height are in the 80+ percentile.
Sadly, Cameron also had to get shots today. It was so sad because he was just grinning at the nurse as she got everything ready, and soon he was screaming like crazy. One of the shots went in at a bad angle so he bled quite a bit and will probably bruise. You'd think I would be more used to this after Kimball having shots, but it's still really hard to have to watch my little boy be sore and not be able to do much other than a bit of Tylenol.

Smiles :)

Cameron has been smiling for a while now but it's so hard to catch it on camera. He is such a happy, calm boy...except for late at night when he gets too gassy and screams for a while, but that's another story. He has also started laughing which just melts my heart. Anyhow, here's
some pictures of our cute little guy.

Pictures!

Last week I came across an ad of a local photographer-Whitney Lewis-who wanted to do a photo shoot of infants to increase her portfolio, and was offering to do it free. I couldn't resist so I loaded Kimball and Cameron up and drove over to her apartment. Since Kimball was there, she shot a few photos of him as well. I just got them today and was so excited. I think they turned out super cute!

This first picture is our favorite of Cameron.

He is such a good looking little boy! I love his chubby cheeks.

Kimball is one handsome 2 year old!This is definitely my favorite of Kimball. I just can't help but smile when I see this!

Parent's hands making a heart shape either around the pregnant belly or baby's feet seems to be a recent trend but I really like it. It's such a simple way to illustrate the love a parent has for their little one. It is however very difficult to make your hands in a perfect heart shape around a squirmy baby's feet!

Comparable

I thought I'd copy some friends who have 2 kids and compare pictures of our two boys because people are always asking if Cameron looks anything like Kimball did at this age. I'd say they look like brothers. So...which one's which?
Ed.: Yeah, they have their similarities but I agree with those who commented that there are enough differences to be able to tell them apart. Of course, we'll see a few years down the road when I look back at pictures. I mostly wanted to see if it was just me, or if others who didn't see my boys on a daily basis could tell the difference.

Ulterior Motives

Cameron finally got to have his first bath at home the other day because his cord took forever (!) to fall off. Kimball was my little helper, wanting to wash his brother's belly and hair. I think Kimball mostly enjoyed it because he got to stand in the bath to help, and as you'll see in the pictures perhaps had ulterior motives for helping me :)
Here's Cameron after his bath, followed by a picture of Kimball after Cameron's bath.

Is this not the cutest picture ever?

Home, Home on the Range

Big news! Cameron came home today! I was at the hospital and our pediatrician walked up to me and, without any warning, said he was having the neonatologist look at Cameron's charts to decide if he could come home today. After reviewing all of the variables involved, both the pediatrician and neonatologist agreed that it was safe for us to bring our baby home. I was blown away that suddenly we were taking our baby home. I rushed home and called Dale, who left work early and we rushed to prepare everything. The discharge procedure went smoothly at the hospital and we are now a happy family of four, all under one roof.

So far Kimball has enjoyed hugging his brother and giving him rides in the infant swing. It all seems surreal to suddenly have Cameron home, but we are loving it!