Fire trucks and a haircut

Today has been a great day so far! This morning we went to the annual Fire Dept. breakfast in our city. We were really suprised at how big this event was, but it was a great meal! And Tyler brought his little fire truck with him, so that was cute. The first time he heard the horn go off while we were looking at the trucks, he got rather scared, so Daddy gave him a big grin and said "Woah!" And then every time a kid honked the horn after that Tyler repeated "Woah!" So adorable.

And I got my hair cut! I was ready for a change, and this was a change. I decided to go for the short look- sorry Dad. And I like the highlights she put in, with two different shades of the blond. Fun stuff!

Communicating with Tyler

Tyler doesn't have a lot of words, and of those, there are very few that other people would recognize even if they were given context. For example, his new favorite toy is his bulldozer, which is known as "booohm". We usually only get one syllable for most words. Most of the time he gets close enough that we understand that he is trying to recreate the word we just said, but not close enough where we can recognize it later. The latest one has us baffled though. Today we asked him to say "good". The response has been the same all day: "EEEEEEE!" with a big grin. We have no idea where that came from. "Say 'good'". "EEEEEEE!"

He also has found a good track record with just trying to repeat the last word we said. "Do you want some milk?" "Nilllk". "Would you like to come up?" "UUUUUuuuup". Sometimes that doesn't help much though, like when we have him identify things. "Tyler, what is this?" "SHiiish". "No, what is it's name?" "Aaame". Or, out in the yard just now as I tripped on something, "OUCH! What the heck?" "Hek!"

And sometimes I think he understands "no", but now I am not so sure. For a few days in a row, it seemed like every time the baby cried it was because Tyler was hugging her a bit too strongly. So I kept telling him "no". And then the next time she cried (and many fussy times since then) he goes up to her and says "no, no, no, no". I guess he thought I was talking to her? And when he wants to get in my lap, he stands there and says "uuuuuup" over and over again with his arms out no matter how many times I say "no, Kaitlyn is eating right now, you have to wait." You can almost see the wheels turning. "Huh, I'm not up yet - I bet she just didnt' hear me right. I just need to keep saying it." He never even gets impatient or anything! He just eventually gives up after a few minutes and finds something else to do (though more often than not he is back quickly).

He is shaping up to be a very good big brother though! Sometimes he smothers her a bit with his affections, but last night I kept trying to distract her with her rattle when she was fussy. And the next time she cried he picked up her rattle, waved it in huge patterns in front of her, and then tried to put it in her hand. So cute!

Indiana Jones

Last night was so great! Christopher's company was hosting an "Open House" this week, brining in new clients and family of employees to see the new offices, etc. And last night we all got to go see the premier of the new Indiana Jones movie. I spend weeks worrying about how Kaitlyn would do without me for that long, and went through 3 teenage babysitters before I finally had my friend watch the kids for the evening. But Kaitlyn did perfectly! I fed her to sleep when I left, and apparently she slept through most of the movie, and was so content that we even got to grab some Sonic on the way home. Hooray! An actual date! Not to mention that the movie was great fun. I grew up loving the first three movies, which was unavoidable since my maiden name is Jones. And the fourth was no disappointment.

In other news, I am stealing an idea I saw on Melissa's blog. I am getting my hair done next Saturday because I am so ready for a change! But I don't know what change I want. So make your vote off to the side please! Comments welcome!

Old habits die.

Well, I had mentioned that I was excited to be back to the gym, and Kaitlyn did fine while we were there. But she also got the stomach flu while she was there, apparently. The poor thing was very patient with all of it, but was just a lethargic little cute lump all weekend with a fever. I think she has finally pushed all of it out of her system now. Which leaves me wondering how long I should wait before I take her back again. I guess everything goes toward building her immune system!

In other news, Tyler just last night tried holding his own open cup for the first time. He has been a sippy cup guy for a long time now, and if we didn't have straws I have had to hold regular cups while he drinks. But the first time he held the cup last night, I was so nervous! He did great! And today we practiced again, and he only had a minor spill. It was tough convincing him that the spill was ok, but he eventually tried again. Such a big boy!

Photos!

The photos are in, and I am in love! We had a bit of trouble getting the kids to look at the camera, but I think we still got a few good shots. And the temple grounds were just beautiful. I already uploaded them to a kodakgallery site, and am too lazy to do so again, so I will just send you there to see them. In the meantime, this is the collage I made this morning. I love photoshop!

PS - If you like the photos, they were done by Stewart Images. We liked them. I thought he had a great eye for the camera, even if they weren't very vocal in trying to get the kids attention. We should've brought a rattle!

New tricks

New dog, new tricks:

Kaitlyn's new talents this week have been fun. First of all, she has started rocking back and forth, so I know rolling is coming soon. But in the meantime she has discovered spinning around counter-clockwise on her back. It has been fun to see her progress as she makes the circles on the ground now. And more importantly, she found her toes! My, what interesting things those are. She likes grabbing them a lot now.

Old habits:

I finally broke down and started back at the gym. I kept procrastinating, worrying about how Kaitlyn would do, but I went twice this week and she did just fine. Tyler, of course, adores that place. As soon as we come in the door he takes off, and yesterday he cried when we left. I just hope I have enough time still to get in shape before Cancun in late June. I lost all my pregnancy weight, and now it is just down to turning the sagging flab into toned muscle.

Old dog, new home:

My poor Grandfather. He has lived in the same tiny house since 1945, and absolutly refused to budge. My Grandmother all but begged to move into a bigger place, and his children have spent years trying to convince him that he would be less lonely in a retirement home. But this week, he finally had no choice. Since he is no longer able to live on his own safely, he is moving from the care center where he has stayed for the last month or so into an apartment in Highland Cove, where people will look in on him. We keep telling how great it will be to have people cook for him, and activities to go to, and everything else they offer, but no matter what we say, it isn't his home. We are praying for him.

And in other news, it looks like my brother Gary is coming to visit for July 4th! Hooray! We are excited.

Mother's Day

What a great weekend! Saturday we had some family pictures taken. I found this couple on craigslist who was offering to do pictures for free to build their portfolio, and so we went to the Timp. Temple and had a great shoot. I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I am excited! That was a fun Mother's Day thing to do, I decided. And then we went over to Christopher's grandmother's house for a family get together. Tyler has been on a trampoline a few times, but never been very impressed. But that night, he just went crazy! He loved running around and around on it, and if he didn't fall down enough times (which he thought was really funny for some reason), then he would just collapse as he ran. Such a fun guy.

On the way home, we had to stop for an errand, and Kaitlyn let it be known that she was very hungry. So I told Christopher to just find a store to wander around in, and of all his choices he wanted to take Tyler in to Toys R Us. So cute! The funny part is what they found. While we were in Maui last October, his grandmother bought him a little firetruck. He LOVED that truck! It went in diaper bag with us, because no matter what he was upset about, hearing that truck go off made him perfectly happy again. And then we noticed we hadn't seen it in a while. And we still haven't. But there, in Toys R Us, was that same little truck. Christopher laughed all night at Tyler's face when he pressed that button - he went from distracted to a look of "WHERE IS IT? I HEARD IT SOMEWHERE!" frantically looking around for his beloved truck. We now have a very happy boy. Christopher was rather proud of himself too, which was cute.

And Mother's Day itself was a good day here as well. We went over to Christopher's mom's house, and gave her the tricycle that all of his siblings had joined together to get. That was so much fun! She has been obsessed with getting this bike lately, and had no idea that we were getting it for her. The perfect gift. And speaking of perfect gifts, Christopher had Tyler walk in with the roses for me, which were almost the same size as him! I love my boys! And even though Kaitlyn is too little for her dress, I had her wear this dress because it made me so giddy to see her in it.

I love being a mom! More and more, I know what people mean when they say that their greatest joy comes from their family.