The Diaper Pouch Returns

I've told you about Abbie's use of her diaper for storing hair clips and elastics but yesterday she found an entirely new and innovative use for this convenient storage area. We were at the park when I noticed that she was taking handfuls of sand and sticking them down the front of her shirt. I called her over so I could brush the sand out and explain that we don't put sand down the front of our shirts. (An important life lesson for all.) She walked, somewhat awkwardly, to me.

When I looked down the front of her shirt I saw into the front of her diaper and there sat a rock, roughly the size of a matchbox car! When I pulled it out I noticed a handful of other tiny pebbles along with the sand. She had filled her diaper with rocks and sand!

The thing I don't understand is what exactly is appealing about rocks in the diaper? Why do you even start such an experiment? And once you've started feel the discomfort, why do you continue with larger and larger rocks? Do you think it will become more comfortable if you get enough in there? Is the discovery of untapped storage capacity so appealing that the discomfort is worth it? Are these rocks special or would any old rock be worth storing? Have I stunted scientific experimentation by asking Abbie not to put rocks in her diaper?

I - not being of a scientific turn- will probably never know....

The Amazing Russ

I have always known that I had an amazing husband but today he outdid himself. First he spent most of the day building shelves in our garage. We have a tiny, "one car," garage that I have loved although it is cramped. As we've piled in the junk it has gotten more and more cramped so we could only get in the car from one side. This will obviously not work well - if at all - with two kids in car seats so my wonderful husband built enough shelving to compress almost all of our junk to the back of the garage. (While it may seem disorganized on the shelves, it is actually a highly developed organizational system known only to the designer.)
The second - and even more amazing accomplishment of Russ today is he finished painting a picture of my dad and my niece, Vicki, for my dad for his birthday/father's day. This painting was a special request from me at the last minute that he has been working on for the last couple of weeks. It is based on a picture from a family camp out and represents all that I love about my dad. I absolutely love the painting and think it is one of Russ's best, if not his best, painting to date. We are giving it to my dad tomorrow (May 25) so if you read this before then don't tell him. (For better or worse my parents aren't the most up to date on blogs and blogging so I'm not terribly worried about them checking this before we give it to them. Dad, if you are reading this before you've seen the picture ....act surprised.)

Baby Banana?

So we are about 90% sure that our new addition will be named Savannah. We've talked to Abbie about baby sister, and more recently about Baby Savannah. She, of course, responds with "Baby Sa- nana," which sounds terribly close to "Baby Banana!" And we had been so worried that Savannah wasn't conducive to nicknames......

Fun Weekend

So I'm a little late in blogging it, but last weekend we had a blast. We spent some time at Bear Lake and had a much needed vacation from the four walls of our home. I like our house just fine, but every now and then I get claustrophobic being home so much. We spent some time hiking Saturday morning. Abbie was so excited and kept talking about hiking in the mountains. Of course, one-year-old speed is not exactly conducive to getting anywhere so after we let her exhaust herself we put her in the kid pack and really got going. (As much as I can seven months pregnant.) We love the mountains and even though there were large patches of snow to cross and not much foliage we were glad to be out in it.

After a very short nap we went down to the lake. What a blast! It took Abbie a little bit of time to warm up to the water. But we found a nice tiny inlet where the water had heated up to lukewarm and soon she was splashing away and filling her bucket with wet sand. We didn't bring a swimming suit because we thought it would be too cold to really get wet, so of course she soaked her clothes. I think that a prerequisite of fun for children is to make as big a mess of oneself as possible. We didn't mind though as that is what we came for (the fun not the mess). I figure a little dirt never hurt anyone.

It was so nice to get away and relax and while we missed all the Gray cousins that had been invited we are very grateful that they didn't share their strep throat with us. We hope to do this with them all again sometime soon.

Mother's Day Weekend

First I want to say Happy Mother's Day to both of our mothers. We are so grateful for everything you have done and continue to do for us. The longer we're parents the more amazing you become. And an especial thanks to Laura because your wonderful son made sure I had a great Mother's Day.

This morning I got to wake up late to the smell of waffles and the sounds of Abbie laboring up the stairs. When I came out she threw a card at me (with a smile of course) and said "Thank you mama." Inside was a nice note from Russ and scribbles from Abbie - the perfect card. Then Abbie (Russ) got me a new maternity shirt, which at this stage of the game is greatly appreciated. Amazingly he picked out the same one at the store that I had been ogling but never bought. What a great guy.

Yesterday was also near perfect (for me anyway). We went hiking with Abbie up around Red Buette Gardens. It is still too snowy to go too far up the canyons, and between the one year old and the pregnant lady this was about as much as we could do. It was SO beautiful and I love being in the mountains (well foothills) again.

Later in the afternoon Russ decided we needed a ceiling fan for our room. Having never had one I wasn't convinced but went a long with it anyway. For any of you who thing Russ is a mild mannered individual just sit and watch him fight with an inanimate object (computer, traffic light, or in this case poorly designed screws and lighting fixtures). He gets as mad as I've ever seen him. At one point he was threatening to melt the fan down if it didn't cooperate. At another he was getting ready to punch holes in the ceiling. It was quite hilarious. Thankfully,Russ won the day and we ended it wonderful cool breeze in our room (I'm completely sold on the ceiling fan in the bedroom idea. It is amazingly relaxing)

Fool me Twice!!!

So Abbie locked me out again!!! For the past for months whenever I have gone into the garage I've grabbed my keys on the off chance that Abbie would lock me out again. Whether it be when I'm bringing in groceries, grabbing something whatever - I have my keys. And of course, she hasn't locked me out. I've meant to get a copy and hide it somewhere but had just not gotten around to it. But today I ran to the garage to put something in the picnic basket, and attempted to run back in. The door was locked. I still can not figure out how or when she did it as she was buckled in her booster seat when I went outside. It must have been in the two minutes from the time we got home washed her hands and I sat her in the seat for lunch.

I was beyond frustrated. Of course my neighbor with the key to my house wasn't home again and so I had to call Russ home during his lunch. I stood at the back sliding glass door so Abbie could see me and not be scared. Unfortunately she was done with her lunch, wanted out and throwing a fit by the time he was able to make it home. Thankfully she was easily cheered up moments later and probably forgot about the whole thing. Where I to be so lucky.

Meltdown!

As I'm typing this Abbie is having a first class meltdown. So for all of you with kids over the age of 18 months you can smile smugly that we have finally reached the "twos" and all the joys that come with them. Honestly, overall Abbie is a great kid and very obedient but lately she has decided that everything in our home, our friends homes, and everywhere we go is "hers." When we are dealing with toys and other kids usually the concepts of sharing and taking turns will do the job. We've had a few meltdowns but not many.

But today she wanted to play with some of the nice family photos my parents had taken a few years ago. When I told her no we had a collapse. This episode is complicated by the fact that the rule in our house is the binki stays in the crib, which quickly became the focus of the tantrum.I want to believe - hope, pray, plead - that this is because she is catching up on sleep from earlier in the week, teething, or other such thing, and not that we have definitively entered an era of constant battles for independence.

I'm told that Abbie inherited the ability to scream nonstop and loose complete control of herself from her father - apparently the stories of him as a child were legendary. It is the first time I've seriously questioned my choice in spouse (I love you, Russ). Of course, I'm sure I was a complete saint as a child.......:).

So to all of you I'm sure you are just counting your blessings that you have not yet reached this stage, through it , figured out how to manage it better than I, or - at a minimum - not dealing with a screaming child while online