San Diego

When my wonderful parents heard about the construction we are doing on our house that included blasting holes in the wall and a lot of dust (more about that to come later), they suggested I come to San Diego for awhile to let Mark and his helpers get the big stuff done without the kids around.  I was so excited and so grateful for their generosity.  There is no way we could have lived here while that work was being done.  

So in the morning on May 11th I flew with my little boys to San Diego to stay with my parents for 10 days!  Thank you Mom and Dad for bringing us down there to be with you!  It was truly a fun and special experience for us.  I am most grateful that you were able to spend so much time with the kids and that you got to know them so well!  Thank you for taking care of me.  I was so spoiled.

I did have my hands full with the kiddos, so getting my camera out and taking fabulous pictures was rarely my first priority.  I'm glad I snapped a few pictures though, because now the vacation is over and it is only in my memory and pictures.

We went to a beach on Mission Bay.  Brian loved all of it except when he got too cold to play in the water. There was a fun alternative to playing in the water though.  Mission Bay has so many playgrounds right next to the beaches.  Brian somehow got Grandpa to push him on the swings for what seemed like forever.

We spent some time at the San Diego Zoo because we can get in with my parent's passes.  I love the San Diego Zoo.

This was one of the 4 or 5 times we went to Sea World.  Sea World is a simple 5 minute drive from my parent's house and is a fun place I can take the kids by myself if my parents are busy at The Center.  The first thing Brian wanted to do was go touch the starfish. 

Playing in the Mormon Battalion Historic Site courtyard early one morning before other visitors arrived.

Our Sunday activity was visiting the beautiful San Diego Temple.

The sleeping situation was a new experience for all of us.  The kids slept in the same room for the first time ever.  Some nights I was surprised and proud at how well they slept.  Most nights presented some difficulty in getting both boys to sleep and to stay asleep.  The diminished amount of sleep resulted in Timmy taking a lot of naps in the backpack and his carrier, and Brian being only slightly more difficult to deal with during the days and nights.  Really they were champs.  Mom and Dad were so understanding and forgiving about the middle of the night issues and the super duper early morning wake-ups.  

One afternoon we went to the beautiful beach out on Coronado Island.  We searched for crabs and enjoyed the view.  Too bad it was a little too cold to enjoy the water.

Grandma took us to the model train museum at Balboa Park.  While there, she bought Brian a conductor's hat, scarf and train whistle.  He was unbelievably happy about that hat.  He wore it everywhere for the rest of the trip.

The highlight of San Diego for Brian was riding on the train.  It was a cold windy wet day and we were thinking of something we could do that wasn't totally outdoors.  My mom decided to take us for a ride on the metro to the downtown train station.

We rode down to the main station and then rode home.  Brian was so happy to ride that train.  He was so sad when it was over that after his nap we got back on and rode downtown again where we walked to the USS Midway Museum.

This is Brian the conductor in the cockpit of an old fighter plane on the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  He loves all the buttons and switches.

The first day we were in San Diego overlapped with the last day that Alli and her kids were there.  We all went together to the sailing ships. After just getting in from the airport I was unprepared with my camera so I don't have pictures of that first day.  My mom took Brian back to the ships to get some pictures of him in his pirate hat and eye patch.  He's saying "Argh!" in the above picture.

Timmy enjoyed most of the vacation from his perch in the backpack on my back where he was very content.  Once in a while I would let him out to explore.  He's still crawling, so there weren't that many places I could set him down on the ground.  The Battalion courtyard was one of those nice sanitary places though.  He liked splashing in the water.

The last morning in San Diego Grandpa took us to Dog Beach where dogs are allowed to run and play.  Timmy fell asleep in the car so Dad stayed in the car with him while Brian and I enjoyed watching the dogs play and fetch their toys.  Brian found a nice little spot to play as well.  He loves the water and sand.

Our last afternoon in San Diego was spent enjoying the Shamu show at Sea World where my dad held Brian on his lap and my mom held Timmy on hers.  I was left with no child to hold (struggle with) and I enjoyed that show as much as anyone could enjoy a whale show.  I love my parents and I love that my kids love them and I love that they are such wonderful grandparents.

 Following Sea World we stopped at a local Chinese buffet.  Brian's favorite food is Chinese food.  The waiters and waitresses got a kick out of watching him in his conductor hat gobbling down the Chinese cuisine.  

THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR EVERYTHING!

Mother's Day/Mark's Birthday

Mark's Birthday was on Mother's Day this year.  It was a nice day for both of us.  My favorite moment was when I picked Brian up from Nursery at church.  He was jumping up and down saying, "Mommy, look what I have for you! Look what I have for you! Happy Mother's Day!"  I was not expecting this first experience of receiving a gift from one of my children to be so emotional.  I was totally overwhelmed to the point of tears with feelings of love, joy, and gratitude.  I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be Brian and Timmy's mother.

My favorite part about this little gift the Nursery leaders helped Brian make for me is the missing paint on the right index finger.  When they put paint on his hand he was wearing a band-aid on that finger.  He was very particular about not getting paint on the band-aid so they only painted the finger around it.  That is so Brian.

We had a small party for Mark with our own little family that evening.  Brian was excited to help blow out the candles.  Happy 29 years Mark!

Easter

We had such a fabulous Easter weekend!  On Saturday we went to Alli and Dave's for the big Easter Egg Hunt!  It was so fun, and Brian is still talking about "gathering eggs with cousins."  Thanks Alli and Mel for the delicious food, the fun times and the photos. 

 Brian was pretty good at finding the eggs and even though Jordie was much faster and they were usually going for the same egg, Brian still got more loot than I wanted to let him eat.  He was nice enough to share with me.

Sunday morning bright and early Brian went on a little treasure hunt to find his and Timmy's Easter buckets.  Alli gave me the idea to draw little pictures of places in the house and put them in the eggs.  The egg at each place led to another until he found the buckets in the end table cupboard.  Brian absolutely loved the treasure hunt!

 Timmy liked the eggs.

 I know you're probably wondering why I included the picture above.  I like it because it's the only picture that captured the best moment for me.  Brian found the buckets in the cupboard behind him.  He was so excited he just could not hold still and while he was jumping around Timmy crawled into the cupboard to check out his little bucket.  (If you look closely you can see Timmy in the cupboard.)  Timmy then decided that playing in the cupboard was more fun than anything in his basket and he threw it out the door in order to make more room to play.  I'm glad I didn't spend much time and effort thinking about what to give Timmy.

 After church and naps, we picked up my Grandma Joyce and took her to Mark's parents house for a wonderful Easter dinner.  It was such a nice end to the perfect Easter holiday.

I really enjoyed this year teaching Brian about our Savior Jesus Christ and the Resurrection.  Figuring out how to describe the events of Christ's life, the Atonement, His death, and the Resurrection in terms Brian would understand helped me to think more deeply about it all.

Brian: Three Years Old

Brian is now a month past turning three.  I wish I could capture his personality and his life somehow so that in the future we could look back and see what he was like at this age.  My words will not even come close to truly describing his character, but I guess something is better than nothing.  Truthfully, I have sat down several times to write about him since his Birthday, but little Bri Bri has given me so much trouble this last month that I wanted to wait until I had more positive feelings than frustrated feelings.  Admitting that there is some negativity when I think about describing Brian sounds absolutely horrible and it makes me feel like a bad mother, but I do hope that writing it down can help me sort through it all and learn from our experiences.

It seemed that the day of his birthday was a turning point for him.  The second he turned three it was like he decided to enter a new phase of defiance, back-talking, yelling, tantrums, and refusal refusal and refusal again to stay in bed. Yikes! What happened? I have no clue and I feel like all of my energy this last month has been spent trying to figure him out.  I'm pretty sure I've tried every last one of my own ideas and suggestions from others, but I do feel like I could use more advice and a good book about defiance and stubbornness in three-year-old boys. If anyone reading this has read something good that I could glean some more ideas from please share!  I know that one of the hardest things is keeping myself in check.  I get frustrated and in a sense have my own temper tantrums in response to Brian's actions. Patience, patience, and patience dominate my prayers and thoughts these days. 

I don't want anyone to think that Brian is a bad little kid, because really he is still a very good darling happy guy full of fun and laughter.  There are just a few added difficult moments during the days and nights that were not present a month ago. Moments like yesterday that started with him happily riding his trike (peddling all by himself) up the sidewalk with me (Timmy strapped to my back) following behind.  We made it to a little playground situated in some condos in the neighborhood.  I decided to let him play for awhile.  Awhile turned into a long while and Timmy started getting antsy and it was time to get home to prepare dinner.  I warned Brian that we would be leaving soon.  Then after a few minutes I said he could go down the slide two more times and then it was time to leave.  After the second time down the slide he came over to his trike like we were headed home without a fuss.  As he was about to get on his trike he suddenly decided he wanted to stay and play.  I tried convincing.  I tried rewards.  I tried threats.  Nothing.  He would not get on the trike and he would not walk.  In fact he was running away from me. The only thing I could do was pick him up and haul him home in one arm while I pushed the trike with the other.  I know we were quite a sight with Timmy in the backpack leaning over to look at Brian who was yelling and kicking and crying while I struggled to keep a hold of him and the trike and to keep my cool.  I gave him numerous chances to ride or walk.  He refused each time with very loud "NO's" and even louder screaming and crying.  Finally we made it home to a time-out and eventually he came to his senses.  He's like night and day that kid.  One moment he is absolutely adorable, charming and happy.  The next moment he is totally out of control.  Gratefully the majority of his day is spent in contentment.  It's just that those out of control moments are so crazy they seem to dominate the day or night. in which they occur.  I hope we figure it out soon.

Let's move on to the positive!  I'm glad I sat down to write about Brian, because when I do think about the wonderful things about him the list goes on and on and on.  He is just so funny and smart and the most observant three-year-old I have ever met.  I have noticed that he is particularly good at remembering things.  Yes, I realize most three-year-olds remember everything, but I have found it so fascinating to watch and be a part of this unbelievably fast rate of learning.  Brian remembers pretty much every person he meets and their names.  He remembers random buildings that we go to or pass by in the car.  He remembers streets and where they lead to.  He remembers people's cars and what they look like.  For example, when we drive into the church parking lot on Sunday mornings he will point out certain cars and name who they belong to.  We went visiting teaching the other day and I am lucky enough to have one of my good friends as a partner.  She has a daughter Brian's age and they are good friends as well.  As we were leaving our visit and getting into our cars he noticed that my friend was driving a different car than usual.  Brian had to know where their big black car was and why they were driving a different car.  When I told him the car had been in an accident and was being fixed he was very concerned and talked the whole way home about how Daddy should fix it for them.  Do most three-year-olds notice or care about what cars people are driving?  He must have his Dad's genes on that one.  

Speaking of fixing things, Brian will often set up fixing stations like the one below.  He'll pretend to work on his trains, tractors, cars, trucks and anything else he feels needs fixing.

Brian still loves playing outside.  He loves gathering things like leaves, sticks, snail shells, and pine cones.  He usually ends up giving them to Mark as presents when he gets home from work.  As you know from reading the story earlier, Brian has just recently learned how to ride his tricycle all by himself.  I need to take a picture of him.  He wears his helmet, but only if he can wear his hat underneath.  He says the helmet without the hat pulls his hair.  So he looks pretty funny riding his trike around, but I'm glad he's willing to wear the helmet.

We just feel like we've been waiting and waiting and waiting for consistent dry warm weather.

When we are playing inside Brian currently likes playing swords, pretending there is an owl in his room that is going to eat his toy mouse, and most recently he likes playing school.  He only knows about school from books and what I've told him.  I find it hilarious to see what he really thinks school is.  He has been wearing his little backpack around and I put our previously unused white board in his room.  He always wants me to come in his room and play school with him, which consists of him telling me what letters and numbers he wants  me to write on the white board for him.  He is very particular about where I write them too.  They have to be in the exact place he designates.  I think he'll have a shock when he goes to preschool and realizes that he cannot dictate what and where the teacher writes.  

At Brian's three year doctor's appointment he weighed just under 26 lbs. and is 37.5 inches tall.  That is still not even on the U.S. charts for weight and now up to 50% for height.  Our wonderful doctor always calms my worry by plotting Brian's weight on the World Health Organization chart where Brian falls at above 5% for weight.  The doctor says he's normal in comparison to kids around the world and that we have too many larger children in the U.S. that screw up the curve.  I'm glad he's not worried.  I do feed and feed and feed Brian as much as he'll eat.  It will be interesting to see how big he ends up being.

He seems to be beyond what is expected in all other developmental areas, which is nice to know.  We still are not sure if he is left handed or right handed.  He uses both, but definitely favors his left when eating and coloring.  

I love Brian so much and I feel bad that he has to be the guinea pig as I figure out how to raise children.  I hope I can be deserving of the blessing he is to us. 

Seven Years Married

Happy Anniversary Mark!  When we were married seven years ago, I could not have imagined a better life than we have now.  I know it's not always easy being married to me, but with your patience and continual calm logical ways, you keep me grounded.  Thank you.  I am so blessed.  We are so blessed.  I love you.