Giving My Kid A Complex

Does anyone else think this may come back to haunt me later?

So, Weston and I have been watching parts of Superman Returns as of late (mostly the part with the airplane, as it is in fact Superman + Airplane vs. Gravity, and not Superman vs. Evil Mean Person). Neither Weston nor the 10-year-old trapped inside of me seem to get tired of watching this 5 minute sequence. Oh, we do also watch the scene where he stops the bank robbers who have the big gun. One might think this violates the original postulate of no Superman vs. Evil Guys....One would, however, be wrong. You see, these would-be bank robbers never say anything...(who knows, maybe they were going to give the money to the orphanage) and they also never actually "fight" with Superman. Yes, they do fire their insane gatling gun at him, and one even shoots him point blank in the eye... (which is totally cool to watch)... but is that really "fighting" Superman? Saying they lost that fight with Superman is like saying I lost the Utah Republican Primary to Mitt Romney (It was the hair wasn't it...I knew it).

Where was I? Oh yes, so we watch these parts of the movie a few times a week. I decided we hadn't ever gotten any really good shots of Weston in the cape my mom made for him, and it was high time we did. (This is about as close to naming any of my offspring Kal-El as I think I will ever get, but I am ok with that). So this evening, after getting home from our movie outing (I will let Shan fill you in on the full days events), Weston and I walked over to the park with camera in hand and cape on shoulders. He was pretty good posing for pictures. After we were "done" he kept the cape on while playing on the playground – informing anyone who would listen that he was in fact Superman. He would also then say "To infinity and beyond."

.....To his credit, Superman doesn't really say anything worth yelling right before he flies off in the movie.

"Tee" Ball

Ok, so how ghetto is this? Weston got a little plastic bat and ball set at the dollar store and is in love with it, but he's not that skilled at hitting the ball when I throw it to him yet. So in order to help him play with his new toy with less frustration, Ian made him a "tee." Yes, it is made from a piece of rain gutter attached to a board. Nice. Weston loves it though and it was cheap as free.

I love how Weston is not even looking at the ball he just hit. The whole hand-eye coordination thing isn't really all there yet.
He also loves to throw the bat up in the air. It quite often lands on his head.
Also, Ian set up the new patio table. Yay! I love it and can't wait to eat outside all summer (and to get rid of the old patio table so we have room).

DavCam

Here is a live feed of Davin in his swing.
If he starts crying... Please call us.

Thanks,
The Management

Teeth!

Weston had his first visit to the dentist yesterday. I had kind of been putting off taking him in since he turned 2, but thanks to my sister's blog post about her kids' first visit, I was inspired to bite the bullet and see how Weston's teeth are doing. We made an appointment at a pediatric dentist the day after Weston saw his cousins' pics at the dentist. He was so excited to go too. The night after he had his bad dream I asked him what he was going to think about while he was falling asleep and he thought for a second, then said, "the dentist!" It was so cute.

The office was all nautical themed. Complete with a play boat in the waiting area. Weston had a blast playing in the boat and then when it was our turn to go back they had Nemo playing on the TV screens set into the ceiling. Weston loved that he got his own headphones to listen to the movie. He was not a huge fan of the polishing paste they use to clean your teeth and kept trying to spit it out, but he didn't cry or anything. He was great and sat very still for his x-rays.

The dentist was a little more brusque and a little less gentle than the hygienist and Weston kind of freaked out when the dentist sprayed air on his back molars, but he calmed down pretty quick. I was actually kind of surprised that the dentist wasn't more kid-friendly. He didn't explain anything he was doing to Weston, but I guess his time is more in demand. Just before we left Weston got a flouride varnish treatment. It tasted yucky and all the way home he sucked on his waterbottle and said "bleh bleh." He couldn't eat solid food for 6 hours after his appointment, so we ran a couple errands then picked up a frosty at Wendy's. By the time he woke up from his nap he could have real food again, but that was kind of a pain.

There were no major problems with his teeth. He had a start to a cavity on his back molar, but the dentist said not to worry about it and just brush his back teeth extra good. Weston was very excited about getting a new Eyeore toothbrush and getting to pick a toy out of the treasure chest when he was done. Overall I would say a pretty successful first dentist appointment.

Weston was having an off day as far as smiling for the camera goes, so here's the best we got:

Playing on the boat in the waiting room.
Laying in the "chair" (more like a bench) and watching Nemo with his personal headphones.
Davin was awake the whole time but was a real trooper and didn't fuss much at all.

Memorial Day Weekend!

Ok, I have to be honest, I thought our Memorial Day weekend could have been better. We didn't do a whole lot and every day this weekend felt like every other day of my life except that Ian was home for most of it. On Saturday I took Weston grocery shopping with me and then Ian went and helped our friends get their front yard ready to be re-seeded. That night they came over for dinner and hung out for a bit. That was pretty fun. Sunday Ian had to speak so he was busy all morning preparing his talk (if you didn't already know, Ian's a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to things like this). Sunday afternoon Ian and I took some pics of just us to send to his sister, Aly, for a project she is working on at school. We didn't have a single picture of just the two of us since our last anniversary, so it was high time we took some more. It was actually pretty fun and felt like doing engagement pics again. :)

Monday dawned rainy and cold. Weston was up at 6:45 and therefore so was I. Ian and I took turns running errands without the kids all morning. Ian went and picked up our new patio furniture set, so that was pretty exciting, but it's not all set up yet. It will be so nice to have actual chairs to sit in instead of camp chairs. I will post pics when we get it all put together and outside. Ian and I both napped while the boys napped in the afternoon, then after naptime we went over to the church and played with Ian's RC truck and Weston brought his soccer ball. Last night we started watching National Treasure, but didn't make it through the whole thing before I decided I'd better get some sleep instead.

WARNING: the following paragraph is about Weston's constipation. If you have a weak stomach, do not read.
Weston was not feeling good all day Monday. Poor kid hadn't pooped since Friday, so every half hour or so he would fuss and say he didn't feel good and go lay down on the couch wanting me to tuck him in with his blanket and Elmo and Duckie. I figured running around at the church would get things moving for him, but he refused to poop. I thought for sure we would be up with him in the night, but he slept all night long. First thing this morning he was crying and curled up on the couch. Luckily late last night Ian went to the pharmacy and got a toddler enema. So we gave it to him this morning and he cried and didn't poop . . . STILL. I was waiting until 8 for the doctor's office to open so I could make him an appointment when he curled up and was actually pushing. After pushing for a few minutes he all of a sudden sat up and threw up all over the throw pillow (luckily only getting a tiny bit on the couch). It was pretty traumatic, but after the pooping and the throwing up he felt almost 100% better and has been fine the rest of the day. I have renewed determination to make sure he eats lots of fruit and fiber. :)

Hubby and me in our living room.
Hanging out on the hammock out back.
Davin loves Mama kisses!
Weston being tickled by and playing with Becca and Alann Saturday night.

Weston making good use of his bubble gun Sunday afternoonPlaying at the church on Memorial Day. This is the best pic I could get in the crappy cultural hall lighting zoomed in from the stage. :)

RIP Camry, or how I stopped worrying about the Toyota and learned to love the Escort

Abridged Version:

Camry Died

Got new Old Car.

Camry 1989-2008
"You were almost a Classic"

(2003 - 2008 for us)

OK dedicated blog readers, this one's for you.

I've had this gut feeling for quite some time now that the beloved Camry was about ready to give up the ghost. It's been a great little car, but like the last week of high school, I just couldn't bring myself to put much effort into it. It really started at the beginning of last summer when the AC died. This made for a pretty miserable drive whenever I had Weston in the car. It just got so hot so fast that I was always stressing about him, even with the windows down. This was back when Shannon was working, so I was picking him up every day at 5:30 from day care. Hopefully the child doesn't have any permanent damage from those car rides (Although, I must admit I enjoyed our rides home together... and on more than one occasion we may have made pit stops at Murray park or McDonalds). Anyway.... Despite the insanely cold and snowy winter, the lack of AC in my car remained in the back of my mind. Also, about twice a month, it just wouldn't start. I would just have to wait a few minutes and it would turn over, but it was an annoyance for sure. Since I couldn't ever re-create it, and it never left me stranded for more than 5 minutes, I never bothered to take this in. Over the past 6 months it had started running louder and louder. The breaks started squeaking again, I replaced both headlights within 3 months of each other and put seemingly endless amounts of oil into the belly of that steel beast.

One morning a few months ago I got in the car to go to my early morning church meetings and noticed a small crack had randomly appeared. I knew I had to get it repaired, or it would spread. Unfortunately, the next morning I got back in the car to go to work, only to find that the crack had more than doubled and was beyond fixable. So I was going to need a new windshield...great. Shortly thereafter, we actually had a nice day and I decided to drive with the windows and sunroof open. It was fabulous – until I went to shut said sunroof. The normal "seal of silence" that I would experience when closing the window while the car was still in motion failed to happen. The sunroof no longer properly sealed. This made it even louder in the car. Luckily, it seemed to still ward off rainfall, but I never drove it during a downpour, so I don't know how well it would hold up then. The final straw was the week after Davin's blessing. I could hear the tapping inside the engine...it was a death rattle.. I knew from previous experience that anything that far into the engine would be several hundred dollars to replace. So... I just let it go. Now this obviously wasn't the smartest thing to do... where I more pro-active about things like this, I would have stopped driving it immediately and tried to sell it in running shape... I would have been honest with any buyers... really it would have only raised the value of the car a few hundred (if that)...the damage had been done... the fuse lit... it was just a time bomb at this point...

So I started looking on Craigslist, KSL Classifieds, and Autotrader to see what was out there. In the spectrum of cars around $1500 there is quite a bit crap. I found a 94 ford escort for sale from a mechanic who just buys cars in that price range, fixes them up and re-sells them. I gave it a test drive and thought it ran as good as any $1500 car I had ever driven. The AC works great, the interior is clean, and it has power everything.

This was Thursday right after work - the same day Joy got into town. So I started thinking about it as I was home that evening. As soon as the kids were in bed, I decided that Shannon should test drive it. We stopped off at the bank to get a deposit to give the guy if Shannon gave her approval. On this second, longer test drive, I decided that this was about as good of a deal as I was going to get. We gave the guy our deposit and told him we could get the rest of the money to him by Monday (it was in our online savings account, which takes a few days to transfer back). He was a bit leery of this, but since we had the deposit, said he was ok with it.

When we got home I posted the Camry on all of the aforementioned websites (accept autotrader, which costs money) and set in motion the funds transfer.

The next day, I went to meet Shannon and Joy for lunch when the Camry died it's loud painful death on I-215. There was smoke and pieces of metal clattering around and the type of sounds that make mechanics cry. We have roadside assistance, so it only cost $15 to get it back home, but it did ruin our Café Rio plans.

So when we got home I updated my postings to now say that the Camry was dead. This qualified me to put it in the "Car Parts" section of the KSL classifieds. It sold that weekend, and was gone by Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, our money didn't come in until Tuesday. Luckily the guy didn't sell it out from under us (since he legally could have).

During this time between deciding to purchase the car and actually getting it, I went through what can only be described as male-nesting. I cleaned the garage, organized my tools, and installed the new remote kit for the garage door.

We got the car Tuesday evening. I had to get new rear brakes on it to pass safety and emissions, but it was under $200 for the whole deal, so that's not too bad.

The plan is to keep this thing running for at least 2.5 years until the Altima is paid off...

By then we will probably be wanting a larger car I am sure. So we'll see what happens.

Catching Up

Sorry about the blogging break . . .
I'm back now. I would love to say that I haven't posted because I've been insanely busy doing interesting and productive things, but that would not be entirely true. I have had a fairly full week, but nothing major or pressing. The first part of the week was really relaxed and we just cleaned the house, went to the park, visited Daddy at work and finally picked up the new car. Then I took the boys with me to the DMV to get the temporary permit for the car. Friday was Davin's 2 month check up. He is doing great, but isn't as big as we thought he was. He's actually a little on the small side. Apparently that's just how our kids are. Anyway, to those of you who are interested in the details . . .Davin's Stats are as follows:
height: 23.25 inches--55%ile
weight: 10lbs. 9oz.--25%ile
head: don't recall actual centimeters, but 25%ile
So, ya, he's not the huge baby we imagined him to be. I forgot to mention that we did actually sell the Camry last Sunday!!! This is such great news because with it not running we were concerned no one would buy it. We certainly didn't sell it for what we would have if it was running, but we got a little bit from it, and every little bit helps! :)

When we went to Murray Park on Tuesday all the firefighters were there practicing rescues in the river, so there were about 4 fire engines. Weston was in heaven!

Weston had his first experience on a tire swing at the park this week. He is a big fan.

Davin is 2 months old today!!! He is such a cutie with all his big grins and little chuckles. We love him to pieces.Ok, this is a funny story. Weston LOVES to talk on the phone and is always wanting to call people on my cell. This is him talking to Grandma B (I think) last Sunday. He got hot and took off his pants and then was sitting there chatting on the phone bouncing his foot. I am looking forward to comparing this pic with one of him when he is 16 or 17 (I mean, check out the look he's giving us too!).

Sisters

Oh how I love my sisters. I hate that I live far away from them all, but I love when we get to be together and visit. My older sister, Joy, came to visit me for the first time in almost 2 years (I have seen here in there, but always at my parents house when we are all together). So this was the first time she had seen my house and also the first time she saw Davin! We had a fabulous time together.
Joy got here Thursday evening and we got Papa Murphy's pizza when we got home from the airport. It was so delicious. Ian and I had to run and test drive a little car we were thinking about buying (and did buy, post on that forthcoming), so I felt bad leaving right after she got there, but we weren't gone too long. Anyway, long story short when I got home we spent the rest of the night talking, literally. We didn't go to bed until 3am. Just a few short hours later it was Friday morning and Weston was up and wanting to play. We were so tired, but it was totally worth it.
Friday we went and did some shopping at Deseret Book and Babies R Us. Joy got a new cute diaper bag. We were going to go to Cafe Rio for lunch, but while waiting for Ian to join us got a call that he needed to be picked up because the Camry had died on the freeway on his way there. Bummer. We ended up letting McDonald's feed us instead and Ian worked from home the rest of the afternoon while the rest of us napped. Aren't we the exciting ones?!? Anyway, after dinner that night Joy and I went to this store called "The Quilted Bear." I had never been there. It was tons of fun and had all these little booths set up where crafters sell their stuff. We wandered and looked and got a couple fun things.
Saturday we did a little more shopping. Well I did some more shopping. Joy wasn't feeling great but was a real trooper helping me pick out clothes anyway. I finished shopping for my spring/summer clothes and Joy got a couple dresses for her girls. That night we had a bbq and played with Weston. After the boys were in bed Joy and I went and saw "Penelope" at the dollar theater. It was so cute! We had a great time watching the movie and commenting to each other. It was seriously an adorable movie. We highly recommend it if you like sweet girly movies that make you smile.
So, Saturday was a pretty late night too. I had to take Joy to the airport at 7am Sunday. Sad day . . . our visit was over. It was so fun though. I so appreciate Joy taking her solo vacation out here to visit me! Here are some pics of our awesome sister weekend.

Joy playing with Weston. He was so excited for her to be there and wanted to show her all his stuff.
Weston showing Auntie Joy his new bubble gun out in the backyard (I did not realize that I was in this picture)
Auntie Joy and her newest nephew.
Auntie Joy and the boys. They love their aunties!
Me and my sister . . . I thought we were doing cheesy smiles. ;)

Happy Happy Gurgling

Davin has been making the cutest little gurgly sounds, almost like laughing, and smiling a lot more now. I can't help but post the cutest ones. Our visit with Auntie Joy is going wonderfully. Look forward to a post about it on Monday!

It's All About Me!

Oh wait . . . my blog posts are mostly about my family, my kids, my failures, joys and the minutia of my life. I also don't post a lot of pics of myself, however, I was playing with photobooth for the first time ever (even though we have had a mac our entire married life) and took some pics of myself. It was pretty fun and addicting. I really wanted to get a good shot of my hair since I'm totally loving this haircut and today is the first day of my contacts being back in! Yay! So here I am in my element with Davin sleeping in his carseat behind me. :) Enjoy.

Baby Smiles

Davin has been smiling for real for a couple weeks now but I hadn't been able to get a picture of his cute little happy face before. Today during Weston's naptime we had some play time and I finally captured some of his adorable baby smiles for your viewing pleasure!

Nightmares

Last night Davin had an awesome sleeping night and was only up once from 10pm-7:15am! I know, you're thinking, "Shannon probably is feeling so rested only having to get up once," but sadly you would be wrong. Weston woke up screaming twice last night because he was having bad dreams about a spider being in his bed. So after going to bed at 10:30 last night I was up at 11:30 debriefing with Ian why Weston was having nightmares, then up again at 2am calming Weston down and tucking him in, then at 4:30 with Davin for a feeding, then Davin again at 7:15. Ugh. Poor Weston was convinced there was a spider in his bed. Probably because he found a little tiny spider in the kitchen yesterday and also he looked at the big huge tarantula at the library (it was in a cage). Anyway, Ian pulled the covers all they way back just to make sure it really was just a dream (spiders in your bed is not out of the realm of possibility in our house). So yeah, not the best night for me, but I'm coping.

Today we were going to go to the toy store to pick out a present for Weston's cousin Lizzie's birthday. Weston had some leftover birthday money in his piggy bank so I told him he could bring it and pick out a toy for himself too. He was pretty excited about this and put his money in his pocket at like 9am. We ended up going to Target instead of Toys R Us, but it was so fun. Weston picked out a really cool little curious george train toy that goes all on it's own and then turns around and goes the other way when it runs into something. I got a fun toy too. I have been wanting a dust buster for about a year now and I had a Target gift card, so I finally bought one! Now that I've had it for a few hours I'm already wondering how I lived without it all this time. I love indulging my OCD tendencies. :) I won't say what we ended up getting for Lizzie, but it's awesome. Also, side note, if you are ever looking for paint with water books for your kids, Target has them. We got a few of those too. Definitely a fun little outing.

My new toy! Isn't it great? It even matches my kitchen with the red and white. Loving it!
Weston and his new George toy. He was pretty pleased with himself when he paid for it too.

You're It!

Answer 3 things to each section

.

20 years ago I...

1) was 5 years old

2) had just moved to La Habra

3) was finishing my last 6 weeks of kindergarten at a new school

.

10 years ago I...

1) was a sophomore in high school and was super busy with Drill Team, swimming (sorta), and 2 choirs

2) went to my first and worst formal dance (with an ex). . .word of advice, never go to a formal dance with an ex even if you had already made the plans before you broke up. I spent the entire night evading him trying to kiss me. Blah.

3) was really starting to figure life out and find my testimony of my Savior and the Gospel.

.

5 years ago I..

1) was a sophomore at BYU and had just started dating Ian.

2) already knew I was going to marry him

3) worked all summer at FHSS Computer Support, the most easy/boring/well-paying job at BYU. :)

.

3 years ago I..

1) was feeling secretly grateful that my decision about my Rec Therapy internship had been made for me by Ian getting offered an internship in New York, which we were leaving for in just a few days!

2) was pregnant with Weston, but didn't know it yet

3) was blonde. (i did not make an attractive blonde)

.

1 year ago I...

1) was getting settled into my first real house!

2) working 2 part time jobs. blah.

3) was sleeping through the night. :)

.

So far this year I have...

1) given birth for the second time.

2) redecorated/refurnished my bedroom.

3) not yet slept through the night. blah.

.

Yesterday I...

1) had flashbacks to dating/early marriage with Ian when Weston and I got a frog as a pet. (RIP Crap for Brains)

2) did 2 loads of laundry

3) tried out a new recipe, modified the new recipe and it was delicious!

.

Today I....

1) went to the library with the kids.

2) vacuumed the house

3) fed both my kids twice (aren't I such an amazing mom?!?)

.

Tomorrow I will...

1) mop the floors

2) take Weston to the petting zoo

3) get way excited for Joy to come on Thursday!

.

In the next year I may...

1) fit into my american eagle jeans again

2) get Weston potty trained!

3) sleep through the night (sorry it's a running theme, it's kind of a forefront of my life right now)

.

i tag: Carly, Tasha and Sara

Mother's Day and Pete

Happy Mother's Day to everyone! Hope you all had a lovely, relaxing, fun day with your families. I personally had a wonderful Mother's Day. As mentioned in my previous post I got my special day started a little early with an outing on Saturday and then a big part of my gift was a full night's sleep Saturday night. Ian got up with Davin all night and fed him bottles and I got to roll over and go back to sleep. Yay! I think that was my favorite part of my Mother's Day. We had a nice slow Sunday morning then went to church. Weston sang with the primary and was so cute! He held up a flower and even did one of the actions to the song! I was so proud. :) That afternoon Ian bbqed hamburgers and hot dogs and we had fresh strawberries and chips. It was a nice meal. We talked to our families and then had our friends over to play Rumi Kube. It was a very nice Mother's Day. I even convinced Ian to give me a backrub before bed! :) Thanks honey for making it such a nice day. I love you!

So, now we are back to our daily routine. For our outing today we went to Petsmart to look at animals and came home with a new pet-- an African Dwarf Frog! They are pretty much the most fun water pets. Weston picked his frog out from the tank and held him all the way home. When we got home and got him all settled in the fishbowl I told Weston he should give him a name, and I gave him some suggestions. He wanted to call him Pete, so without further ado . . . Introducing Pete!

Weston glowing with pride at his new pet.
Not the most amazing picture but there is an outline that is pretty believable as a frog at the bottom right. What a cute little froggy. :)
This is kind of a random picture of the boys in their PJ's lounging Sunday morning. Weston is in love with those red Thomas PJ's and they are pretty adorable on him.

Early Mother's Day and other Gems

So I'm still working on getting my page back to normal. I had been meaning to reorganize my friends and family links anyway, so now I guess I have a good fresh start. Looking on the bright side, ya know? Anyway, I had a lovely early Mother's Day outing today. Ian watched both the boys while I went shopping and then got my hair done by my friend Debbie at her new salon. It was such a fun time away and now I have cute new hair! Yay. Here is a pic of my new do and Davin. I should mention also that I am wearing my glasses because I finally went to the eye doctor and found out I was having an allergic reaction to the solution I was using, so I got some prescription eyedrops and can't wear my contacts for 10 days! I don't think I've worn my glasses for 10 days straight since high school, so it's been a pain for me. Oh well at least my eyes are feeling lots better it doesn't look like I've been getting high in the bathroom all the time.
I liked this pic I snapped of Davin the other day. He is wearing his adorable outfit from my mom and looks so much older at 6 1/2 weeks!
Funny story . . . the day of my "Blah" post I took the boys to Sam's club and Weston was sitting inside the basket of the ginormous cart eating a sample bagel bite while I turned around to get cheese out of the refrigerator thingie and apparently he tried to stand up and slipped in his cowboy boots that are a size too big thereby hitting his face on the edge of the cart. Since I didn't actually see him hit his face I thought he bonked his head, but another aisle over I noticed a line on his face and put together what had happened. Poor kid has a bruise in the shape of a line across his face to his eye. This was the pic of it, but you can't see it all that well. He's still a cutie, even with his seemingly constantly marred face.