Springtime

It must be Spring! I don't say that because the weather is warming up. It snowed Wednesday and Thursday this week, with more snow expected tomorrow. It must be Spring though because that is when Ian's grandparents stop in on their way back to Seattle from their snowbird trip in AZ. Also, it must be Spring because Denny, my MIL, came to our house because she was off school for Spring Break. With all this springiness you would think we would have had much nicer Spring weather for all the out-of-towners, but alas. We still had a very fun visit.

Denny got here on Tuesday (Davin's birthday), then Wednesday afternoon Grandma and Papa Squire made their way to our house. Weston was very excited for all these grandparents (and the gifts they brought). Both the boys were napping when the Squire's got to our house, so when Dav woke up he was a little overwhelmed. Luckily a new ball distracted him from his crabiness.
That evening we grilled steaks and had a nice dinner together, then stayed up late visiting and playing cards.

Despite the snow on the ground and freezing cold wind, we ventured to the dinosaur museum on Thursday. It was a really great trip. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Weston is more into playing in the erosion table now, so we spent a good 20 minutes there this time.
Even Davin got in on the action a little bit. Since someone had to hold him though he didn't last as long as Weston, so here he is taking a snack break with me.
The whole group minus Denny. I promise we were posed in front of a dinosaur. You just can't really see it.
By Thursday evening we were pretty bushed. We ate leftovers for dinner then played some more before G&G Squire were on their way back up the road towards home. Both the boys really enjoyed playing blocks with anyone who was willing to build things with them. We really appreciate the Squire's taking the time to stop and play and visit with us each year. It's always so fun to see them.
We loved our time with Grandma Denny too. Davin was pretty clingy to me the whole time, but Weston adores his grandma and loved having her read to him, play blocks with him, and help him do all his other little activities. Thursday evening Denny and I went and got pedicures. It was so fun to do something relaxing and girly. :)

On Friday we went to David's Bridal in the morning to check out a couple wedding dresses for Aly (Ian's sister who is engaged), then we grabbed a quick bite of lunch and went up to the Planetarium. We met up with my friend, Liz, and her kids to watch "The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket" movie and explore a bit. I had some very tired boys on my hands by the time we were done, but they both sat still and watched the whole movie. Later yesterday afternoon we took Grandma Denny to the airport. So sad to see her go. But wait! She called about half an hour before her flight was scheduled to leave with wonderful news . . . she had volunteered to be bumped and would be staying with us one more night! She got a great flight voucher and Ian and I got to go on a date. I would say it worked out pretty well.

Ian and I browsed Borders, rented a movie, got take out Pei Wei and Chick Fil A shakes, then spent the evening chilling/eating/movie watching at Verite. Meanwhile Weston got spoiled by Grandma for one more night. Denny flew out early this morning. THANK YOU for all the fun/groceries/outings while you were here, Den!

So, while we continue to wait for the Spring weather to arrive, just know that Spring was here at our house this week.

A Special Occasion

Today my baby turned 1. I am kind of sad. It just went by so fast. Faster than it did with Weston. All of a sudden Davin looks like a little boy and not so much like a baby. My life has been so blessed by having Davin be a part of it. He has changed my perspective on motherhood, in a mostly good way. He is sweet and loving. He has a killer laugh and is such a little peanut. He is a wiggle worm, but a cute one.

He had his one year well visit at the doctor's office this morning. Mean mommy made him get 3 shots on his big day. He won't remember though. This is his cute smile pre-shots.
In case anyone is interested his stats are:
Height: 28 1/4 inches; 10%
Weight: 17 lbs. 8 oz.; negative % (they didn't tell me how negative, but lets just say he hadn't gained an ounce since his 9 month visit . . . blah)
Head: holding strong in the 50%

He was an angel for the visit and only cried for about 3 minutes after his shots. We were all excited to leave and go to the airport to pick up Grandma Denny! She is in town during her spring break until Friday. We spent the rest of the day playing and cooking.

Davin was actually fairly skilled at present opening, but didn't have much of a chance to show off his talents because Weston was quite anxious to help.
One of his gifts from us was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We had to read it right then. Both the boys love it.
Davin was really pretty excited about his new toys and books. He got that Mickey Mouse lovey, a shape sorting, spinning hippo toy (that Weston picked out), and that other fun train book. He also got lots of clothes, but he wasn't nearly as stoked about those, but Mommy was!
We sang Happy Birthday and Davin eyed the candle warily. He eventually reached out to try and touch it.
Weston ended up assisted with the birthday wish blowing out of the candle.
Happy Birthday my little one!!!

Go Cougs!

It has been a busy week. I stayed home for much of it, but it was still somehow busy. The highlight of my week was when my new vacuum arrived on Thursday afternoon. I was desperate to try it out, so I turned on a movie for the kids and assembled it myself. Go me! Then I enlisted Weston's "help" to tidy the house and spent the next 20 minutes savoring the sounds of little crumb particles being sucked up by a powerful beast. Needless to say I LOVE my new toy. :) It is much quieter, much more powerful, significantly heavier, and way more awesome than my old vacuum. In case you are interested it is the Eureka Boss Smartvac. Seriously my carpets looked A-mazing after the maiden voyage of this bad boy.
On Friday the boys and I went to Target where I ONLY bought 2 birthday toys for Davin. I was very proud of myself for making it out of the store without spending money on anything else. Again, go me. Yesterday afternoon we went and picked up Ian at work and drove down to Provo for a fun night out at the BYU. I dressed both the kids in their BYU outfits and had to take a picture before their hair got all messed up and their outfits peed on. My cute future Cougs.
We dropped of Davin at my Aunt Pam's house for the evening, but took Weston along for the night. He was very patient as we dropped off our wedding rings to be cleaned at the jeweler where we bought them. Then we had dinner at our favorite place, Burger Supreme. Yummy stuff.
After going back to the jewelers to pick up our rings we went to the Marriott Center to watch the women's gymnastic meet against Utah. Weston had no idea what gymnastics even was, but I explained it was girls doing flips. He was suitably impressed, I think. One of our main goals in taking Weston to the gymnastics meet was to get some up close and personal time with Cosmo (since gymnastics is a significantly less crowded event than the sold out basketball game we took Weston to last time). Cosmo mostly hung around low in the stands, so Ian took Weston down to see him. It was by far the best part of Weston's week. He told me all about how he gave Cosmo a double high five and said HI and that Dad took a picture. I watched the whole thing from our higher up spot in the stands. Weston loved it.
Weston's stamina kind of ran out at that point, so we only lasted another 15 minutes or so after seeing Cosmo, but that's ok. We saw most of the meet.
I had told Weston that we would probably go get a fun treat after the meet, so that gave him his second wind. We went to the Creamery, but after taking one glance at the line that wound and then went out the door we decided to see if one of our other treat haunts was still in business. Success! Smart Cookie was still there and still as delicious as ever. Bonus they now sold multiple flavors of ice cream, so Weston got his green (mint chip) ice cream cone and Ian and I got their fabulous ice cream cookie sandwich. It really was lots of fun to be out and about with just Weston. He was in need of some parental attention after a few days of me holding Dav all day long. We went back to Aunt Pam's to pick up Davin and ended up visiting for a little bit while Weston played with toys. What a trooper . . . Weston lasted until 10pm! It was kind of a late night, but we had a blast. Can't wait for our jaunt to Provo next month for a baseball game!

Scary Stuff

Yesterday was a weird day. Davin was still pretty lethargic and sick, so we stayed home all day. In the morning Ian IMed me that something was going on at work and he thought that there were going to be layoffs. I immediately started panicking. Luckily Ian still has a job, but at his small company 8 people were laid off, including some of our close friends. It breaks my heart. I am praying that things will work out for everyone.

That jolt of panic yesterday also had a different effect on me . . . instant humility and gratitude. You all know I've been kind of living in my own little pity party world these last few weeks. The possibility of losing our job, and not being at all prepared for that scenario, brought my life back into a sharp focus on the most important things in it.

I am hoping that I can get my act together and remember the importance of trying to be more self sufficient and start thinking past the next paycheck. I also am thankful that I am now seeing life in a broader sense than my little mommy world. My life is blessed.

In case you were wondering, Davin slept LOTS better last night and was only up once. He woke up this morning happy and fever free. He's not 100% yet, still coughing and congested, but clearly feeling much better. We even ventured to story time at the library this morning. Weston was pretty desperate to get out of the house.

Finally, CONGRATS to my sister in law, Aly! She got engaged last night! So exciting. We are looking forward to being there for her special day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another year has come and gone. I am now 26. I have very little to say about this birthday except that I must remember next year to NOT get excited about my birthday. It wasn't the worst day, but it wasn't great either, and to be honest I was hoping for great. Obviously having high expectations never ends well.

Yesterday I took Davin to get a big boy haircut. His hair was just getting too long and scraggly for me. He was pretty good for the haircut. He cried for the last few minutes and we both ended up with hair all over us. I think he looks adorable. This is the last smile I can remember on his face though.
Today he looked like this. All day. He was SO not feeling good. He ran a temperature even with Tylenol. He took minuscule naps and just generally fussed all day. I did reap the snuggling benefits of having a sick baby, but that also meant I really couldn't do anything. He seriously was laying like this dozing off every few minutes for about half an hour this afternoon. I really just feel so bad for him.
When I opened my birthday presents tonight Weston was desperate to "help" (do it for me). I asked him to bring me my last present, the big one and instead he just started ripping into it. Stinker. Oh well. Davin was momentarily distracted from sickie sadness by ripping wrapping paper too.
We were all in green at one point in the day. Weston randomly changed his shirt. Anyway, if anyone needs a sugar fix I have almost an entire chocolate peanut butter cake, a quarter of a lemon vanilla cake, and a wedding style cupcake sitting on my stove. Come on over for the party! If you're wondering why this post is being written at 11:30pm, that would be because I "treated" myself to a nap. I'm such an idiot. Now I can't sleep. Not to mention Ian is snoring loudly in our bedroom and Davin is not peacefully sleeping either. I think I will go try to lull myself to sleep with some reading or word puzzles. Tomorrow will be just another day.

Partyin' it Up!

Last night we went out with friends for my 26th birthday (which is not actually until St. Patrick's Day). It was such a blast. We started the night with dinner at Cafe Rio, then headed to the bowling alley. There was about an hour wait for a lane, so we filled the time wasting money on arcade games. I played skeeball. :) It makes me happy.

Ian and Justin played a couple intense games of air hockey. Ian was the champ.
Justin and Tara's hoop rivalry. Justin won, but only by 2 baskets. Go Tara!
I was kind of naughty and got a tattoo for my birthday! Hot stuff at 26. ;)
(It was actually purchased for me with our combined arcade game tickets, and, no mother, I didn't wear it to church today)
Let the bowling begin! We all did pretty well. This was my victory dance after a strike. The guys all finished within 6 points of each other (110, 113, 116). The girls had more of a spread. We all had a good time.
Me and my honey (oh and creeper face Justin).
My completely awesome girlfriends. I am so lucky these girls like me.
After our first game of bowling, Tara and Justin headed out to go pick up their kids, but Wynn and Dawnie stayed and bowled another game with us. We all actually improved our scores. There's something I just love about bowling. I am so glad that we got to have such a fun night. Thanks y'all!

Mommying

Last night we dropped off my car at the shop to be re-fixed. So today we were housebound. I even forgot to get the stroller out of the trunk, so we have been inside all day. I call today mommying. I didn't shower until 10am (but I did shower!), I did laundry and dishes, fed the kids, tried to tidy (but to no avail), and got dinner started in the crock pot.

I also sat and watercolored with Weston. I especially liked his painting on black paper. It looked really cool. Perhaps he has inherited Daddy's design eye.
We also baked cookies while Davin watched from the high chair, contentedly munching Saltines. He definitely prefers cookies though.
Finally, I sat on the floor and played rolly ball with this bundle of cuteness. He has decided that his new nap time is smack dab in the middle of the day (at least he takes a nap).
Tonight we will all go together and pick up my car and then go to the fitness center pool for some family splashing. Tomorrow's outing . . . Davin's haircut.

Accentuate the Positive

First of all, Thank You, Thank You! for all your re-affirming, supportive comments. I, of course, am feeling better today. Ian bringing these home for me yesterday helped. :)
I then promptly left the kids in his charge and went to Young Womens. None of our girls showed up, so the 3 leaders just had a girls' night and went to the Draper temple open house sans responsibility. It was really beautiful and fun to see the temple. We toured and talked and talked some more. It was definitely what I needed last night. I came home to a nice quiet, tidy house, snuggled with Ian and watched the new Big Bang Theory. I slept well. Weston didn't wake me up, and after feeding Davin at 4am I got to sleep until 7:45!

Today has been much better too. Not overly productive, but enough. We didn't do much because I wanted Davin to get a good nap. He didn't go down until 12ish, but then slept until 2:30pm. Our afternoon outing was a trip to the library and a stop at the dollar store. I got some fun Easter decorations and a couple Easter basket stuffers while Weston wasn't looking. The boys came home with mylar balloons (their favorite).

Ian will be home for dinner tonight and none of us need to go anywhere. I am looking forward to a nice evening together. I am so glad to know that all us moms struggle sometimes (not just me!) and I feel lucky to have so much wonderful support. I am going to just take things one day at a time and try to remember why I am here.

Calling all Super Mom's!

It has been a long week. Yes, I am aware that it is only Tuesday. My children are driving me nuts and I am just not in a good place. Weston, my previously perfect sleeper, has been not going to sleep until at least 9pm and waking me up in the middle of the night every night except one since we got back from CA. I am at a complete loss as to what to do. I have been making him stay awake all afternoon, even though he begs for a nap. It still doesn't seem to help much since last night he didn't go to sleep until 9:20pm and was in my room waking me up for no reason at 1:33am.

So after being up with both my children and feeling completely overwhelmed they still were up at 7. On top of this, Weston has been having little poop accidents for the past couple days in a row. I also don't know what to do about that. He knows he's in trouble when he does it, but at the same time I don't want to freak out on him. We are considering taking a giant stride backwards and reinstating some positive reinforcement before resorting to giving him a cold hose down in the shower when he has poop accidents.

What it really boils down to is that I just feel like I am going in circles. Everyday I do the same things or try new things, but nothing changes. Nothing I do to change behaviors seems to work. I clean the house every day and an hour later it doesn't look like I've done anything. I just feel like there is no point to anything I do. I have no real purpose or direction or meaning in my day. I can't seem to be successful at anything. This feeling of hopelessness is doing nothing for my motivation and energy. I want to be Supermom, but I just can't seem to figure out how. I want to feel happy and fulfilled staying home with my kids, but I mostly feel frustrated and guilty.
Maybe I should go back to work. At least there I feel valued and can see tangible evidence that I am making a difference to someone and accomplishing something. I would appreciate any advice on Weston's sleeping issues. I'm tempted to just lock my bedroom door and see if he would get back in bed and go back to sleep or just scream outside my door. This is me, minus the smile and the ugly skirt suit.

Home Again . . .

home again jiggity jig. It has been a nice week home from our vacation. I cleaned the house, planned meals, grocery shopped, played a bit, babysat a friend's baby, and lots more. Nothing major going on.

The biggest news, that I'm really excited about, is that we decided to join the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center. This is the facility that I swim at, but we hadn't bought a membership yet because I still have to pay for my swimming separately and we weren't sure if we were going to be living so close to the fitness center for long. Now that we have decided to stay put for a couple more years it made sense to get a membership. So far it has been great. We haven't had a gym membership for almost 2 years. It feels good to be able to go work out whenever we want. I prefer to exercise in the mornings before the kids wake up and Ian likes to go at night. I'm hoping to get myself back into fighting shape, or at least lose the 20 pounds I've gained since having the boys. That's my goal.

It's going to be rough I think. I have a major sweet tooth and there's something extra difficult about staying home all day and trying to stay out of the kitchen. I always get really snacky in the late afternoon, but since I am aware of that I am trying to come up with some new strategies to avoid the pitfall. Any helpful ideas would be great. I don't call it a diet though, so I am not asking for dieting tips, just healthy solutions, substitutions or strategies.

It's funny because I have always had pretty good self esteem. Almost to a fault, like I think I look better than I actually do. However it has finally gotten to a point where I am not comfortable with the way I look. I am hoping to be able to take better care of myself. Anyway, sorry about that detour. I didn't mean for this post to be so health centered. Oh well. I suppose that's just what's on my mind.

Last night I got to go shopping all by myself for a couple hours. It was so fabulous. I forget how much I love to shop sometimes. I had a gift card to Old Navy, so of course I had to scour the store and try on at least 10 things. I ended up spending my birthday money on a new great pair of black sweats (I live in sweats, so this is highly exciting) and a cute spring hoodie that's white and yellow. Ian's only comment was "good luck keeping it clean." He's so encouraging. :)

I also hit Barnes and Noble, where I could literally spend hundreds of dollars, but I only got a couple books for Davin for his upcoming birthday. Then I went to Target to try on some capris that were on sale and pick up a new pair of headphones for my aforementioned trips to the gym. The capris were hideous, but they had the headphones I wanted for only $10, so the Target trip wasn't a waste. It was seriously just so much fun being able to browse and look and try on when I normally can't.

In an unrelated vein, I was making an old recipe from my childhood the other day and realized how incredibly easy and inexpensive it is, so I though I'd share. Seriously a quickie meal that uses mostly ingredients you probably already have.

Tuna Biscuit Casserole

1 tube of refrigerated biscuits (I used the Pillsbury Grands this time and they were wonderful)
1 can of tuna
1 can cream of celery soup
1 c. milk
1 t. parsley
1 c. grated cheese

In a greased 9x13 pan arrange the biscuits with a little room in between each one. Mix the tuna, soup, milk and parsley in a separate bowl. Pour the tuna mix over the biscuits, covering. Top with cheese and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

CA Trip- Children's Museum & a Birthday

Friday of our trip was fun and mellow. We spent the morning playing in my parents' backyard while Davin took a forever long morning nap. When my mom got home from school at lunchtime we went over to the La Habra Children's Museum for the afternoon. It is a great little museum and the kids had a lot of fun. They had this exhibit with several little displays of different countries. Here is Davin playing with/eating the plastic food that the people of Indonesia eat.
Weston and I in a real rickshaw.
There were dress up clothes from the different countries too, so my mom and I had to put on hula skirts and Weston favored the Japanese fashions.
The museum also has a really small carousel in one of the main rooms, so Davin had his first ride on the merry go round. He looked bewildered through most of it, but I think he had a good time. He rode twice and was mellow the whole time.
Weston enjoyed being the bus driver. He had to take turns though because Daddy wanted that job too.
Friday afternoon we took the kids in the "pool" again. My dad brought home In N Out for dinner and then we celebrated Davin's birthday early. He opened his presents from my parents. Weston really wanted to help him rip into his presents, but he did pretty well waiting until I said he could help. Davin thought ripping the paper up was a fun thing. He loved his new book too. After he opened his presents we had cupcakes from Beverly's Best. Yum.
I was interested to see how Davin would do with his cupcake. Weston was not a fan of getting messy with his 1st birthday cupcake. The singing seemed to make Dav a little nervous, but he thought the candle was cool. He didn't try to touch it though. Mom and I blew it out for him.
Then we set the cupcake on his tray and he just ripped into it and ate and ate. It was quite the mess, but he was happy as a clam. He ate every crumb he could find on his tray. When we went to take him out of his high chair and clean him off he cried and cried and was still trying to eat the crumbs that had fallen on his legs and diaper. I would say it was a successful first cupcake experience.
After we got kids to bed we played cards and sat in the spa with my parents. It was nice to have some down time to just visit. We gathered our stuff up from the four corners of the house and set our alarms. We decided to drive all the way home on Saturday, so we got on the road at 5:30am and after 3 stops made it home a little before 6pm. Wow. What a trip. I am so glad that Ian was able to take the vacation time and that we got to do so many fun things all together. Thanks for bearing with me and my 5 post recap of our trip. Now back to reality. Ian is back at work, busy as ever and I am getting caught up with the grocery shopping, house cleaning and getting back into our routine. Fun times in CA. Can't wait to go back . . . already.

CA Trip- Aquarium of the Pacific

My mom took Thursday off work to play with us. We took a kind of slow morning and let Davin have a nap then we headed out for our aquarium trip. Weston was really excited to see all the fish. The aquarium was tons of fun and had plenty to keep us all entertained. We hit some bad traffic on our way down there, but it worked out because by the time we got there and ate some lunch all the bazillions of school field trip kids had cleared out and it was fairly empty. This was the first big wall tank when you first walked in. It seriously was so cool.
Outside they had these low, open areas where you could touch the rays and little sharks. I can't get over how they always feel SO slimy. Ick. Weston didn't go for sticking his entire arm in there, but later on in a different area with rays, the rays were coming up to the surface. He was happy to touch them then. He also spent some time with Grandma B touching the tide pool creatures like starfish, anemones, and urchins.
Also outside by the open ray pools was a play area with this fun boat and several big sea animals that squirted water when you pushed the buttons on them. This was probably Weston's favorite part of the aquarium. I was actually surprised we didn't have any major meltdowns when leaving here.
The boys and I were all pretty enthralled with the sea lions who were swimming all around this tunnel. They are so cute. We went to watch their feeding/training session too and they did some fun tricks.
Weston thought the rainbows from the water and sun were so cool. This is by the shark lagoon. See the huge shark right behind Weston? Wow. It was really a great aquarium.
We also got to see lots of jellies, seahorses, an underwater diver giving a tour of the coral reef exhibit, and this crazy fish called a weedy sea dragon. It was a really fun day. On our way out Grandma B got Weston a shark shirt and a toy whale. He loves them. We will definitely have to go check out the tiny aquarium near us in the near future. Thanks for the awesome outing Grandma B!

CA Trip- Double Date & Palmdale

After our high adventures at Disneyland we decided to take Tuesday easy. We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast . . . oh wait. No, we were up by 7am and had Cocoa Puffs for breakfast. :) Anyway, we went and met up with my Dad for lunch in the park. It was SO nice to be able to play at the park since in UT it has been too cold for the park for months. The boys came home and all took naps, which was fabulous. When we all woke up we got to swim in Grandma B's pool. Really it is just the hot tub that we turn down to 95 degrees and splash around in, but it's as good as a pool for the kids. Davin loved the water and had a blast splash splash splashing.

That evening Ian and I left the boys with my dad and we headed out for our official date. We doubled with my sister, Jules and her boyfriend, Jason. It was quite the marathon date. First we all got massages at Happy Feet (which felt amazing), then dinner at Lucille's (Yum). After dinner we tried to go mini golfing, but it was already closed, so we detoured to Jules' apartment to grab socks and went bowling instead. We all pretty much sucked it up at bowling, but the evening still ended on a good note with frozen yogurt at Yogurtland. It was fun to hang out with Jules and Jason. Ian and I could barely keep up though. We got home late and were exhausted. I don't know how I did that night after night when I was single.
Wednesday morning we got up fairly early and drove out to Palmdale to visit with Ian's Grandma, Aunt Teri, Uncle Mike, Todd, Jenni, and baby Preston. It was a pretty relaxed visit. We just hung out with Grandma and watched Wall-E then headed to Todd and Jenni's for pizza and playtime. The 3 boys played well together and Weston LOVED all the fun new toys to play with.

Here are all 3 of the Bowles great grandkids. Davin, Preston, and Weston.
Grandma Bowles getting lovins from Dav. He actually took a nice long nap that afternoon, so he managed to stay awake until 8pm.
We really are so grateful to have such awesome family (on both sides) that we really love and wish we could hang out with on a more regular basis. In the meantime we will just have to continue making the most of our visits!