Time's Quick Passage

I had my doctor appointment on Tuesday and was a little shocked when the doctor said I was almost halfway through! Due to all the miscarriages we had before Isaac, the time between doctor visits moved as slow I do going to a dentist and with just as much apprehension. This time it's been totally different and I was surprised to hear we'll see the sex of the child the day before we leave for Florida. (in two weeks) I still have yet to feel the little tyke move inside me. It probably has to do with the fact that Isaac has me chasing him around all day long with hardly a thought of anything else. Is that a blessing or a curse?! I probably don't really want to know the answer to that!

Got Pee?

It was a busy evening. In addition to having our Family Home Evening, we decided to give Isaac his very own potty. Now prior to this, I'd been reading many books to him about using the potty. He loves them and never fails to pull them out to read multiple times in a day. He loves flushing the toilet (especially when Mama is still sitting on it), can say 'pee-pee' and 'poo-poo' and can take off his own pants. I taught him these things tentatively, just because I'd heard so many nightmare stories from other moms about toilet training - especially with boys.

Since speaking with these moms I've modified my expectations: I know he'll probably be in pull-ups during the night for a LONG time, I'm going to be ultra serious of doing it when we're home (which is all but 4 hours in a day where we'll be drink water and juice like crazy), and I'm willing to use pull-ups when we go out and make the move later to underwear and risk being peed on, above all, I know this will be a unsanitary and tedious business but worthwhile in the end. Given these thoughts, we planned to get serious about it after we get back from Disney World, but gave him the potty two and a half weeks early so he could 'play' with it and get prepped for it when we come back.

He was thrilled with it and immediately practiced sitting down. I didn't expect anything more, but he insisted on removing his clothing and diaper. He said he need to 'pee-pee'. Lo and behold, after sitting down and getting up multiple times, he had actually peed in it. Of course we never thought he would and never really looked until he was carting the potty around and spilling pee on the carpet! "Duh Mama and Papa .... didn't I say I had to pee-pee?"


A present this large has got to be good! Yes, I used Christmas wrap.

Giving One Tenth

Isaac has amazed us lately with what he is able to repeat. We often count out items we see around us and in books. It helps that he has a number puzzle he enjoys doing. But often as we count slowly, he is able to say the consecutive number clear as a bell. I don't think he quite understands what it means, but he knows that 3 always follows 2 and so forth. We decided to combine this with a lesson on tithing from Malachi 3:8-12.

So we laid out the numbers and he was excited to count the lemons, pennies and quarters we gave him. After counting them out, we had him choose one of the ten to give to the Lord, his tithe. We tried explaining how all our blessings are from the Lord and how a tenth is but a small amount to give back to Him. I'm pretty sure that all went over his head as he bounced from number to number, but I'm glad he had fun counting.

Heart Attack!

So since the last post about Isaac sleeping at our door in the morning he's been really good about sleeping in his bed until I get him up. On the other hand I've been up almost every 2-3 hours at night, taking a potty break, filling a famished stomach or due to the insistent beeping of Kent's pager. Technology definitely has its set backs... if only the stupid thing would beep when there's an important message, rather than every time someone decides to send an email.

Needless to say, after several nights like this I was absolutely exhausted last night and dropped like a boulder off a cliff. Imagine a sleep so deep that your limbs feel as if they've been cemented to the bed. Around 4 am I barely registered a strange noise in our room. Before I could comprehend what it was, I was already falling back asleep when suddenly a tiny cold hand grabs at me. I gasp with my heart lodged in my throat and turn to see Isaac crawling up into our bed. It made me wonder if my heart-attack like symptoms are the reason why mothers learn never to sleep too deeply!

Pioneer Village

We had a blast and a half with the Bakers on Saturday at Pioneer Village. The old buildings and desert landscape made for a great backdrop. One of the best parts was there was plenty of room for the kids to run to exhaustion. The picnic lunch that could feed 20 topped the day off nicely. We all went home and experienced the bliss of incoherence for and hour and a half. Ahhh, the luxury of naps! Below are some favorites.


This has to be among one of my favorite shots. We kept trying to do some family pictures but due to the wind, lack in coordinate camera attention ... and oh and impossible poses, it was never fully achieved! Though, Lee got to relive his childhood.


I was positive that Isaac was going to get his head stuck between the bars!