Our Mornings

Every morning at about 6:30 Dallin wakes up. I can almost set my clock to his wake-up time. He will usually go and find a toy and play for awhile (I think this is usually his 'poop' time too) Then he comes and finds me. I don't know how he knows it, but he whispers in the morning. He'll come into our room and whisper to me or he will play with my toes if they are sticking out. Then he climbs into bed with me . . . I realize that he is poopy, so I make him get out because the pull-ups he wears at night are not the best protection. I'll usually have him go wake up Sadie because for some reason she responds better to him waking her up.

This morning was a little different. Yes, it was still 6:30 and we still had the poop, but Sadie woke up earlier, so Dallin and I went into their room and Dallin said, "Good Morning" It was so cute. I know it's not that amazing, but it is for me. It's so fun to listen to him develop his language skills. It can also be quite frustrating at times when I can't figure out that "ous" means outside or "nosssse" means snow instead of nose. And lots of other things that I really haven't figured out yet.

Another cute thing that Dallin has been doing for awhile calling himself the baby. It started one time when Steve and I were hugging and Dallin didn't think that was very cool, so he came to me and indicated that he wanted to be picked up. Then he pointed to himself and said,"Baby, baby." So I hugged him and said, "Of course you are my baby." Now he does the same thing if he wants some attention. Although, now he is being a little selective because the other day he pointed to himself and said, "baby. no. dallin." I think the translation is, "I'm not a baby, I'm Dallin." I told him that he will always be my baby and I explained that Sadie was my baby too. He seemed to get a kick out of that because he pointed to Sadie and said, "Ga-ga. baby." And as you know, Ga-ga means Sadie.

I never thought I would be one of those parents who thinks that their child is the absolute greatest, but I have to to admit it. My kids are better than all of your kids combined. They are the smartest, cutest, healthiest, strongest, bestest kids in the world. I guess if I claim that, I would also have to admit that they can be the most obnoxious, clingy, whiny, and brattiest kids in the world. I have some days where I feel that way. On those days I try to take a little extra time at the end of the day and watch them while they sleep. It doesn't take very long for me to remember that they really are the bestest in the world. I think that is my best piece of advice: Watch you kids while they sleep. Everything seems to slip into perspective while you do that.

This blog post got a little off focus, sorry . . . the rest of our mornings usually include breakfast, cartoons, getting Sadie off to school, and going to the YMCA, but this morning I went back to bed after a little passive-aggressive behavior and I let Steve take care of everything else. Thanks sweetie for taking the wheel this morning. I love you.

Ga-Ga

I was thinking about weird things about our family and this is one that I think is kind of funny. Dallin calls Sadie "Ga-ga". We think it started because he couldn't do s-sounds, but now he does, in fact he puts and s at the end of almost every word. He has been calling Sadie "Ga-ga" since about the time he turned 2. That's not the weird thing. . . Sadie decided that she likes that, so she calls him "Ga-ga". So now it's kind a nickname for eachother. Confusing, right? Well, even though I think it's kind of weird, I go with it.

Now it gets really strange. . . Sometimes Steve and I forget ourselves and refer to one of the kids as "Ga-ga". It can all be very confusing because "Ga-ga" can mean either child. (It usually means Sadie) Does anyone else find this strange?

Bunk beds

Although this may not change the course of anyone else's life, it has been a big deal to our family. We are now officially crib free. We were able to get some new/used bunk beds from someone and all together only spent about $300 on the entire thing! We were stoked about the deal. Dallin and Sadie both love it. They especially love it when we climb on the top bunk with them. Dallin is really good about climbing up and down. I think he likes to show off. What do you think?

Soo, it's still winter here in PA. We laughed at the fact that Groundhog's Day is in the beginning of February, because I do not look forward to spring until the end of April or May. Last year my kids hunted for Easter eggs in the snow. So, since we don't have anything exciting going on and no cute pictures, I decided to blog about totally random things that makes our family unique.

(These are in no particular order)
1. We have an "L" shaped stick that we picked up in Central Park in New York 2 years ago. A toy that we bought for Sadie didn't make it home, but L-stick did. Sadie recently took it to school for show-and-tell.
2. Dallin loves to burp. He even changes the pitch of it if he has a particularly long one. Steve and I can't help but laugh.
3. Whenever something is particularly gross, we call it "wood-shed-nasty". It doesn't make any sense unless you've seen the movie Cold Comfort Farm
4. I can't help but laugh at potty humor. Steve often tells me that I am a 12-year-old boy trapped in a 30-year-old body.
5. Both of my kids are the size of a kid who is one year older. Sadie looks like a 6-year-old and Dallin looks like a 3-year-old. I didn't mind until Sadie was almost 4 and threw a huge fit in public. I got a lot of looks because people thought she was too old to act like that.
6. She still throws huge tantrums in public . . . she's getting better though.
7. Steve has recently lost 90 pounds and I have lost 30. It's the major topic of a lot of our discussions and our activities.
8. I love going to craft stores. It rejuvenates my soul. I don't even have to buy anything.
9. Dallin is in the "no" stage. But he is taking it to a whole new level. Sometimes we find him saying it over and over just to himself.
10. Sadie is an excellent reader. Everytime we sit down with her, we are amazed by what she can do.
11. I used to mock scrapbookers who had their supplies in a special case on wheels. I have become one of those kind of scrapbookers.
12. We are the kind of parents who let our kids fall. We warn them once and if they continue to do the stupid thing, we let them suffer the consequence. We've only gone to the emergency room once .
13. I love the Twilight series ( don't mock until you read them)
14. Steve and I both love the Firefly series. We are really sad that it isn't on TV anymore.
15. We have a huge library of movies . . . mostly thanks to Steve.
16. Dallin loves to watch movies too. He usually goes into sort of a trance. Sadie noticed this the other day and said, "He really likes movies, I think he's going to be like his Daddy"
17. Steve says that I have a reading addiction. I really do like to read. I go through phases. In the middle of my last really intense reading phase I got a note from Sadie one night that said "no reating allowd" Translation: You are spending too much time reading -- it is time to pay attention to me.
18. Steve mountain bikes in the middle of winter. You people from Oregon may be thinking, "So what?" Well, it's really, really cold. Apparently, he's not the only winter mountain biker though.
19. Steve and I go to different churches. It's not always easy, but we are making it work.
20. Sadie's main journal topic it about how much we all love eachother. It makes me feel good that she is so confident in our love for her and how much she loves all of us. It's one of my few validations that I am doing a good job.

There are a lot of other strange but true things that I could add, but I think I need to go and see what Dallin is up to.