Time for a "Catch-up" Post (ALREADY!)

So...I'm already failing at the blog thing. I kinda warned you about that in The Beginning, remember? :) I've still got some thoughts rolling around in my head for some events that deserve a post of their own (Tristan's blessing day for example) but a brain dump would appear to be in order. So here goes!

This has been a REALLY rough week. Andrew has been living at work. Seriously. I have barely seen him since Sunday. Yesterday was a particularly bad day. I got into a big fight with Levi over him not listening, not doing his time-out, and then tripping me on the stairs while I was carrying Tristan. I went totally postal...definitely one of my lowest Mommy moments.  I hate being upset with him, and seeing the look on his face when he realizes he's really made me mad. He looks so instantly sorry. And I feel like an instant failure.

In addition to the kid drama, Boomer decided to throw up in the living room. He was just inches from the kitchen floor which is TILE. No, of course, he had to do it all over the CARPET. Tristan managed to blow out a diaper badly enough that he needed a complete wipe down, his outfit was trashed AND he stained his baby papasan chair. It should be noted, it's no small task to blow out a cloth diaper. He was definitely up to the challenge though. Yeah, yesterday was not a good day. Today has been better! For starters, both boys woke up in a good mood. And Levi decided he would be my superhero helper:

Batman to the rescue!

I just love him. I love trying to figure out how he thinks. We haven't talked about Batman in ages...and today he wakes up and decides he wants to put on his Batman costume from last Halloween! I didn't want to deal with the whole costume, getting it covered in dog hair, etc...so we compromised on this T-shirt and the cape/mask from his costume. He "flew" all over the house, and happily completed any task I assigned as long as I addressed him as "Batman" and phrased my request as a frantic plea of distress.

So anyway, here's the rundown of what else we've been up to (with photos wherever possible!)

I made "church shirts" for Tristan with these cute iron-on ties! Andrew told me that someone made some sort of comment about how they wished they could get away with coming to church in an iron-tie and socks painted to look like shoes (not pictured.) Whatever. I think these are adorable. AND perfectly appropriate for a 3 month old. 

I can be crafty! Sorta.

We tried a new homemade laundry detergent recipe!! Pinterest is one of my newest and most severe addictions. But sometimes it yields some really great stuff! This soap works great, and all the materials only cost about $25. I'm pretty sure it's about a year's supply of laundry detergent, but I'll have to keep you posted. I've even got my Mom using it, and while her typical reaction to my "green" projects is an amused smile and raised eyebrows, she actually said she LIKES this stuff. Score!

These bottles just make me happy! They're so pretty!

We mixed it up in a 5 gallon bucket, lined with a trash bag. I think there's about 3 gallons here!

Guess who wanted to help stir??

The boys had a water battle. Levi is super into his water guns right now. I sent Andrew out to play with Levi for "a couple minutes" before dinner one evening. I went upstairs to change and feed Tristan and came back down (pretty hungry myself by now!) and couldn't find the boys. I stepped outside and found this. Before feeling too bad for Levi because of the size of his gun relative to his Dad's...know this: Levi grabbed the hose at one point to refill his gun, then got the better idea to just turn the hose on his Dad. Smart kid. I love when they really play together. :)

Can you see how absolutely soaked Levi is?

We got a new-to-us patio set! My parents bought new stuff, so we've got this now! The fire pit has been a dilapidated mess for a couple of years now, but Andrew fixed it all up! Doesn't it look awesome? It's just some treated pieces of plywood painted with exterior stain. I picked the color. ;) I'm so pleased with how this turned out. Bonus: we can totally cook marshmallows over those gas logs. We've already had a few date nights right in our own backyard. Put the boys to bed, then cook up a few s'mores. Mmmm...delicious. It's also dangerous to be able to make s'mores pretty much on demand.

I absolutely LOVE the color!

Tristan is becoming less "baby" every day. Somehow he is already 3 months old! How does this happen?? He enjoys sitting in his Bumbo for short bouts while we are eating or doing whatever at the kitchen table. I love how he looks all cool and proud of himself here. I also love that pouty bottom lip. I seriously love the pout as much as his adorable toothless grin.

Just chillin'

Know how I mentioned I'm addicted to Pinterest? Yeah, well....I've got another addiction. The Eagle Mountain 24/7 Yard Sale page on Facebook. It's a great way to get some rid of some stuff that's just been sitting around...and make some money! It's also great to browse when you're stuck in a recliner or on the couch for a pretty hefty part of your day because you're nursing. Only one hand available? No problem, just scroll the posts on your phone. You never know what treasures you're going to find!

Like cute hot rollers!

Not bad, eh??

My husband thinks I'm a little crazy. Maybe I am. But I'm having a good time, getting rid of a bunch of stuff we don't use/need, making a *little* cash, and finding some great deals. So what's the harm, right? :)

Also, Big Brother Levi absolutely LOVES having Tristan visit his room. So I let the two of them chill on Levi's bed at some point almost every day. Levi will frequently pose for a picture and request demand that I take one.  

Check out Tristan's double (triple??) chins!

And FINALLY! Another of my yard sale finds: a professional Belgian waffle maker! I've been wanting one of these bad boys for YEARS. To buy one new they run about $100. I got this one for $20! I scrubbed it up and we broke it in! These waffles were so stinkin' good. So good in fact, that we ate them for dinner one night, then again for breakfast the next morning. Come to think of it, since Andrew isn't coming home for dinner tonight (AGAIN) I think I'll do this for dinner! Levi will be delighted and I love dinners that are cheap, easy & delicious.

Ummm....YUM!

Okay, I think I'm all caught up now. Just in time, 'cuz I've got a baby crying upstairs. It feels SO good to get a couple weeks worth of history all caught up in ONE post. Woot! I totally deserve those waffles for dinner.

Milestones and Mushiness

Tristan was exactly 11 weeks old today. And he decided to roll over. Independently. From his back to his tummy. According to Google, that's about 2-3 months early! At this rate he'll be walking by Christmas. (Eek!!!)

Not the best picture, but it does provide photographic proof!!

And I gave him a bath tonight. I know that's not really newsworthy, but hear me out. I usually let that be a "Daddy chore" but Daddy was camping with the Boy Scouts, so it fell to me. I'm actually so glad. He was ridiculously adorable in the tub. He kicked and wiggled around and splashed in the water. He wouldn't stop smiling!! What a pleasure. And what a nice way to end the day.

It's blurry because he literally wouldn't stop moving!

Of course he wouldn't smile for me once he saw the camera come out. :-/ Isn't he a little young to catch on to that?? Wait a minute, isn't he a little young to be rolling over? I honestly think each subsequent child after your first grows up faster and faster. I'm a little scared to have a third. I catch myself looking at Levi and just how BIG he is. I'm sure part of it is the comparison factor--Tristan makes his brother look huge! But Levi really is growing up so fast (too fast!) He barely fits on my lap when we want to snuggle and read a book. He's really difficult to pick up. But he is so amazing. So beautiful.  So intelligent. So articulate. It makes me a little sad that he is maturing and growing so quickly, but at the same time I'm so utterly in love with the little man he has become. Anyway...enough mush. ;)

Since Andrew was away, we had a nice lazy evening. I watched Cars 2 with Levi. He pulled put every single one of his cars that match the movie and had them lined up and "racing" on the couch. Too adorable.  My house is a total mess. I got nothing "done" tonight. I hope he remembers nights like this. I'm positive he won't remember how the house looked. But I hope he remembers that his mom (and brother!) watched his favorite movie with him. For the zillionth time.  LOVE these boys.

Splash Pad

So, my husband is already giving me grief about "neglecting" my blog. I believe I already mentioned in my introductory post that I'm not real stellar at journaling. Plus, time alone is definitely in short supply with a 10 week old (and my favorite 3 year old) needing me. That said, I *DO* need to catch up! Today we went to the Splash Pad. Some friends of ours were going and invited us to meet up over there. After some serious stress trying to get out the door (and a fairly major argument with the 3 year old about going potty before we left!!) we arrived. The Splash Pad was not very big. And very, very crowded. Alas, that's Utah. I might as well get used to it. Levi wasn't a huge fan of getting sprayed, or having buckets of water dumped on him. He's more the "hang at the shallow end of the pool" type. (Basically, he's "my" type!) It took some serious coaxing to get him out of the grass surrounding the Pad. I had to get a little bit wet myself, but honestly didn't mind since it was over 100 degrees (again!!!) We took a couple of pictures, but they're just from my iPhone, so not the greatest quality. Side note--I saw a mom there chasing her kiddos around trying to snap pictures with her iPad. THAT was funny! Anyway, I snapped pics of Levi's two favorite activities.

Here he is sitting on a water spot. These would periodically spray about 8 feet straight up in the air. He enjoyed either sitting or standing on one so it would tickle his foot or bottom and he'd just get some overspray from the spots nearby.

And here he's ducking his head under what was basically a really big showerhead. He thought this was hilarious, that he could "shower" at the Splash Pad.

As I said, we had a rough morning getting out the door and I definitely wasn't feeling like I was doing such a swell job at mothering Levi, but a fun little outing turned the day around for us. We stayed about an hour and a half, then came home and had leftover milkshake from Arctic Circle for lunch. If that doesn't make me Coolest Mom Ever I don't know what does!

Oh, and Tristan had his swimsuit on just in case, but ended up sleeping in the shade of his stroller the whole time we were there. Easy, peasy. (I think he might be trying to trick me into thinking I should try bigger & longer outings with just me and the 2 boys. I'm seriously chicken about going pretty much anywhere without another adult.)

Bonus: I got some decent suntan on my neck & shoulders just from being out & about! :)

The Crib

My mom and I did a bunch of running around today. We had the boys, and it was 105 degrees outside. Ew! Amidst all of our errands, we ending up buying a crib for Tristan. I know, sort of random. The child is almost 10 weeks old and didn't have a crib. He's been sleeping in the "Arms Reach Co-Sleeper" (a glorified playpen) in our room since he was born. We were holding off on buying a(nother) crib for a number of reasons. You see, we had a beautiful crib set up in the nursery when Levi was born. And the child literally never spent an entire night in it. I'm not kidding. He absolutely, positively HATED his crib. We ended up converting it to a toddler bed when he was just 10 months old. That didn't help things very much, but he would at least sleep there for a few hours each night. So we didn't have a whole lot of faith that Tristan would like a crib any better than his big brother.

Oh, and you may be wondering why we aren't just using Levi's crib for Tristan. That'd be the other reason we were gunshy about buying another. You see, Levi's [very expensive] crib/changer combo was recalled, so we returned it before we moved from Delaware to Utah last year. He also had a nice little bassinet...which was also recalled! And finally, he had a VERY nice pack'n'play with all the bells & whistles (and in excellent condition since he wouldn't sleep in that either) and that was STOLEN when our storage trailer was broken into last summer. Yeah, that's another blog post all its own. I'm so NOT over being robbed. Grrrr!

So, this is the one that caught our eye while we were out shopping. (Can you believe the store had it on display like this?? What a mess!) I had no intention of bringing a crib home today, but this one had the right look, was the right price and was in stock! So home it came.

This is how it looks at our house with our own crib bedding on it. :) Much better.

Of course while we were shopping, Levi got a bit bored. So he tried out just about every chair in the store.

When did he get soooo big?? And why can't he sit still long enough to snap a picture? :)

So I'm typing this up while Tristan sleeps on my shoulder. I'm delaying the inevitable: laying him down to sleep in his fancy new crib. ALL the way across the hall from where I sleep. I have issues with change. I also have issues with my babies growing up way too fast. I'm not-so-secretly hoping that tonight doesn't go real well and that the crib is only used for naps for a little while yet. ;)

Thank Heaven for Moms!!

Today was SUCH a Monday. I was feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed, and perhaps a tad sorry for myself. It was back to work for Andrew, which meant home alone for me. Tristan has been super feisty all weekend, although to be fair, he got his 2 month shots on Friday. We weren't home much at all this weekend, so none of the usual chores got done. I knew that Mr. Fussbutt wasn't going to allow me to get caught up today. My house was a total mess. And when the house is a mess, it stresses me out. And when my baby screams and cries, it stresses me out. Are you getting the picture? (I was stressed out.)

MOM TO THE RESCUE!!! (my Mom that is...not me AS mother) ;)

My mom came over right after her dentist appointment this morning and stayed for a few hours. We got the living room & kitchen pulled together. We got caught up on laundry (that's a bit of an oxymoron.) Levi got some of the extra attention he so needed (and deserved!) And best of all, she helped me clean MY room & bathroom! The master suite was hands-down the worst area of the house and I didn't think I could take it for one more day. The bathroom was about to be condemned by the Board of Health. The sheets were thinking about taking themselves off the bed and jumping into the washer. It was bad. But tonight, I'm headed to bed with a clean, fresh bathroom; clean, fresh sheets...and I can actually see the tops of my dresser and nightstand! I feel SO much better. Thank Heaven for Moms. I hope I can come to the rescue for my grown kids one day.

Other highlights: I got a new baby sling to try out with Tristan from an online yard sale. Super-cute pattern and as far as baby carriers go, it doesn't get any easier than a sling. I'll test it out tomorrow and report back. We had a nice little FHE talking to Levi about the temple, since it's Stake Temple Week. We were planning to take him over to walk around the grounds, but the evening didn't go exactly as planned so that's got to be postponed. Oh, and I sold a bunch of pocket diapers that I wasn't using anymore so I actually MADE money on the online yard sale site today. :-)

The Beginning

I've wanted a blog of my own for...well, for as long as I've known what a "blog" was. Why did I never take the leap? It literally takes about 2 minutes (if you're indecisive on your name and have a slow Internet connection!) to set up a blog. So I guess I can't claim lack of time. Maybe fear of failure? To have a blog, and then ignore & neglect it day after day seems SO much worse than not having one at all. I've ignored and neglected countless paper journals. I've purchased I don't know how many really cute notebooks--in the hopes that their cuteness would make me want to write more regularly. Fail.

So, in my mind here are my reasons for starting my blog: (in no particular order)

1. I want my kids to be able to read it as they get older. I want them to know what they were like when they were younger. I want them to know what *I* was like when they were younger!

2. I desperately want to remember all the adorable things that happen on a daily basis around here. Seriously. Something funny and/or adorable happens every. single. day. I NEED to be keeping track!!

3. I think it'll help keep me sane(r)?? There, I just made up a word. In my very first blog post. Awesome. Seriously though, I truly believe writing is therapeutic and good for the soul.

4. Latter-day prophets have said to keep a journal. "What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity." (President Spencer W. Kimball) Here's to not having too much in the "humdrum dates and places" category!

So to close out this first post, perhaps introductions are in order?? I'm Jess. I'm married to Andrew (hmmm...I'll need a cute blog name for him!) We're high school sweethearts and were married in 2004. We've got 2 little men: Levi, born in December 2008 (now 3 1/2 years old) and Tristan, born May 2012 (currently 9 weeks old.) We've also got 2 furry kids: Belle & Boomer. They're both Labs. And enormously spoiled babies.
I'm lucky to have them. All of them. (a family pic would go great right here...too bad I don't have a current one! *mental note made*)