Major Mom Moment

This happened a couple weeks ago and I already shared it with several people, but it is one of those days I don't want to forget...and I'm sure my kids will appreciate reading about some day.

I got a call from my mom asking me if I was going to my grandma's any time soon. My aunt had a bunch of peaches and could get them ready for us if I was going down. I wasn't going down that week - I had planned to go the following week - but figured I could bump it up to help her out. It was a tough visit. The boys were a little restless and my grandma seems to really be going downhill lately. She didn't remember a lot of what I told her and was just having a hard time in general. It's part of life, I suppose, but is quite difficult for me to watch. I look at pictures from a year ago and there's a notable difference in her...and it makes me sad. I finished up my visit and then stopped by my aunt's house to pick up the peaches and hop on the freeway early enough to beat rush hour and get Dylan home in time for soccer practice at 5:30. I got home and started dinner when Marcos called. He was running late and asked me to get Dylan ready for practice and set out his coaching stuff. I was in the middle of cooking dinner, but figured I could throw Dylan's cleats and shin guards on him while I was stirring food. No sooner do I go to put his soccer stuff on (he can't get the shoes on by himself very well...in general he gets himself ready) than the baby starts screaming. I knew she would be hungry soon, but she woke up mad and starving. Crap! How am I going to finish dinner? I walked down the stairs to get the baby and saw Preston in the corner making a face like he was about to poop. Now, we've been working on potty training for quite some time now (not always actively, but still). Our biggest obstacle is getting him to poop on the stupid potty. So...I grabbed him to run up to the bathroom. I set him on the potty and yelled to Dylan to bring me the baby. I sat hunched over on the edge of the bathtub nursing Marissa while I "patiently" waited for Preston to poop. I finished feeding her and Preston still hadn't pooped, although I knew he had to go really bad. Honestly! The stupid phone rang and instead of ignoring it, I ran to grab it. Quick question phone call, but when I walked back into the bathroom, Preston was half-standing, half-squatting in the bathtub. How is it that pooping in the tub is less frightening than the toilet? Seriously! I quickly set Marissa down on the floor in the hall (I know, bad mom...I just don't worry about stuff like that), grabbed Preston and threw him back on the toilet just in time for him to poop...but only a little. We cheered and carried on, but he didn't go any more. But...now I had to take him to the dollar store to get the balloon I've been promising him if he pooped on the potty. Technically he did poop on the potty. So I finished making dinner, sent Dylan and Marcos off to practice, loaded up Preston and Marissa and headed to the dollar store. Holy cow! I was EXHAUSTED! All of this (from cooking dinner on) happened in less than 30 minutes. INSANE! We ate dinner, and started the bedtime routine just in time for Preston to actually finish pooping in his stupid diaper. Little stink waited for his diaper. Grrr... This motherhood stuff is definitely not for the faint of heart. :)

Two Months Old

Four days after her blessing, my little Marissa turned two months old. I took her in yesterday for her well check. These stats are more for me to remember down the road than anything else.

Height: 23 1/2 inches - 95th percentile

Weight: 12 lbs 13 oz - 90th percentile

Head circumference: 15 inches - 55th percentile

So yep, she's a pretty big baby...no surprise seeing how she started at 9 lbs 0 oz. I can't believe her height is so high though. If this keeps up, she's going to be tall for her age, just like the boys. The last few weeks, she's chunked out and looks bigger even to me. She must have had a growth spurt! I always think I'll miss the newborn stage so much, but I love babies and how they grow and start to interact more and more so I'm not having any "why is she getting so big" moments yet.

Anyway, here are a few things I haven't written down yet so I'm going to now.

• Her umbilical cord fell off when she was 10 days old. It actually fell off during her newborn pictures as I was moving her around all over the place. It may have taken a couple days longer had I not been messing with her so much.
• She smiled at me for the first time just before she turned 5 weeks.
• She slept "all night" for the first time last night (September 20) - from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. It's not something I necessarily expect her to repeat, but I was shocked when I woke up and it was morning already. Wa-hoo!

Marissa's Baby Blessing

We had Marissa's baby blessing last Sunday, September 12, 2010. It was a little weird because it wasn't a fast Sunday, but we didn't want to wait until October and the first Sunday in September would not have worked for a number of reasons. My sister-in-law, Laura, was blessing my nephew, Otis, that day, most of my family was out of town over labor day weekend, and another family in our ward blessed their baby and they have a HUGE family. There wasn't even a place for us to sit that week. So I'm glad we did it last week instead. The only negative was that we couldn't actually bear our testimonies...but that was okay.

Baby blessings are something you look forward to and dread at the same time (well, I do at least). The pressure of keeping a baby happy so she doesn't scream during the blessing, making sure she doesn't poop or spit up on her outfit, keeping the rest of the kids quiet, and planning and carrying out a get together for fairly big families is fun, but lots of work. We decided to have a brunch afterwards since our sacrament meeting starts at 9:00. It turned out perfect. I made a bunch of eggs for breakfast burritos, made bacon with brown sugar on it and got apple and orange juice. My mom helped out by ordering a bunch of cinnamon rolls and bringing sausages and chocolate milk. It was easy and super yummy! Thankfully my mom snuck out after the blessing to set everything out. That ended up being super helpful so everything was ready right when we got there.

The bad part was that Marcos had to work the day before so all the shopping, cleaning and other preparations fell to me and me alone. And then he had high council meetings in the morning. I honestly thought he was going to miss the blessing. I finally texted him at 8:45 a.m. to see if he was coming home. So much for taking family pictures before church. Oh well, at least he made it. The kids were well behaved and ready on time and Marissa was an angel. I showered the night before, knowing I would be swamped with a huge "to do" list in the morning so the only other thing I wish I could do over was my flat hair. :) Oh and I forgot to wash my favorite skirt so I was in a really comfy, but less than flattering skirt that day. Oh well, my sweet baby looked beautiful in the blessing dress Abuela made for her and that's all that matters!

The weather was beautiful, everyone chatted and had a good time, we were actually able to get a few family pictures (minus one of all the cousins...Dylan had already changed his clothes and I was exhausted by that point...oh well) and the blessing Marcos gave Marissa was beautiful. Anyway, for those who weren't there, I'm recording the official words of the blessing here for us to remember.

"Our Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Melchizedec Priesthood which we hold, we take this infant into our arms and give her a name and a blessing. The name by which this child shall be known on this earth and on the records of the church will be Marissa Nicole Uboldi.

Marissa, at this time, we give you a special blessing. We want you to know that our Heavenly Father loves you very, very much and he has sent you to the earth at this time for a very special purpose as many other children that are born at this time. Our Heavenly Father needs the most valiant children and the most valiant servants to work in his vineyard, to bring to pass much righteousness and freedom and to teach the principles of freedom to this country and to the world. You are one of those.

We bless you that you will know that you came to parents and two brothers and extended family and friends who love you very much and want nothing but the best for you. We bless you that you will know that Jesus Christ is your Savior, that you will develop a testimony of the gospel, that you will enjoy being a member of the church and serving all the days of your life our Eternal Heavenly Father. And that you will, as time goes on, grow up with strength and knowledge, that you will make correct decisions, that you will consult your Heavenly Father, that you will have the desire to one day go to the temple and also to be married to a worthy young man who holds the priesthood. We bless you that you will be happy and that you will know that you are loved. And we say these things and do so humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Prestonisms

• Preston tends to mix up his words and invent new ones that sound good to him. One his latest words is micro-eezer (microwave and freezer).
• Preston calls pine cones ice cream cones. Gotta love that kid!
• Preston will ask for some of my drink and say, "Can I have some of your coconut?" instead of "Coke."
• When Preston finally started to say his "l's" like an "l" instead of like a "w" he really enunciated his words. He would say things like, "Can I pa-lay with you?" or "Let's do la-etters."
• Preston loves to make statements like, "This is dee-licious!" and "This is so TASTE-EE!" He really emphasizes those words. His voice is just so cute and unique!
• Preston loves carrying things around with him. One day he was carrying a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set of "Go Fish" cards around. There was a picture of Donald Duck with a number 4 painted on it. I asked him what was on the card and he said Donald has a green 4. Apparently he knows his colors and his numbers. That kid is crazy! I never know what he has learned and what I need to teach him. He is always surprising me!
• Preston has become obsessed with trains and everything Thomas. He loves reading all his books, talking about the "big, big bridge" and is very fond of Percy and the color green.
• Dylan had binoculars and Preston wanted them. He said, "Mommy, he can't share 'key-nock-key-ers' with me."
• Preston has said, "Can you hold you?" forever. He recently started saying, "Mommy, can you holdge me?" He finally understands the "me" part, but apparently thought the word was holdge. So cute!
• Preston says, "Can I have a glass of sip?" It's a combination of having a glass of water and a sippy cup.
• I love the way he talks. He has a few voices. One sounds like Dori on Finding Nemo when she is speaking whale. If you haven't had the privilege of hearing the kid, it's truly funny. And I'm not exaggerating. He really does speak whale! Another voice is very growly and dinosaur-sounding. He seems to use that voice when he is being tough and boy-ish. And the other is his sweet, toddler voice. Why he has these voices, I will never know, but they entertain EVERYONE!
• I've had to get a little tougher on him and start saying no when he asks for unreasonable things. He'll look at me and say, "Hey, why not?" So funny!
• He gets a lot of phrases from me and/or Dylan. On our way to Wyoming I had his portable DVD player on. It had a scratch in it and was paused for a minute. He used his deep, scruffy voice and said in an irritated tone, "Oh, come on!"
• I think Dylan must have changed the song this summer when the hose was under the tramp because Preston now refers to "Ring Around the Rosies" as "Jump around the Hosies." Pretty funny!
• His favorite colors seem to be green and yellow, although he is not nearly as picky about colors as Dylan was at this age.
• He hates having his shirt taken off unless he is going swimming. He either needs to know he'll be putting on another shirt or pajamas or he will be getting wet soon. I'm not sure why, but he gets pretty frustrated and doesn't seem to get over it forever.
• If you take something from Preston, he won't calm down forever. He tends to play with one thing for quite awhile and gets really upset if you take it from him. But if you ask him if you can play with it, he is almost always willing to share. It's all in the approach with him!
• He is really loving reading lately. His favorite books are Clifford and Thomas the Train, but he'll let me read pretty much anything as long as it keeps his attention (so basically kid books for now).
• For some reason he favors counting in Spanish. He knows how to count to 10 or so in both languages, but when he spontaneously starts counting something, he usually counts in Spanish.
• There are lots of words that he uses in Spanish instead of English. He tends to mix both words in a sentence.
• We have neighbors behind us that are from Mexico. When Preston sees them in the backyard, he will stand at the back door and yell "hola" over and over again until they answer him. Eventually someone will usually call back, "Holy, como estas?" and he will reply, "bien."
• Potty training has been a chore with Preston. The other day I watched him back away from me and go over by the piano to poop. Since then, every time I change him he says, "I not poopy on the piano." It's funny how he makes the association between the piano and pooping in his diaper that day. He says that about several other locations as well.
• Preston has been calling me Mama lately. He used to say Mom or Mommy, but now it's Mama. At first it seemed odd, but now it's very endearing.

Dylanisms

Man, I haven't updated anything in forever. I have just a few (not nearly as much as I should) funny things written about each child for now. They are saying and doing so much and have grown so much since I started officially "teaching" them at home. I guess it really was the right thing for our family...even though it has me in crazy mom mode a lot of the time. :)

• Dylan says "ack cleest" instead of at least
• Dylan has been listening to books on CD during quiet time. When I was reading to him at night, he was turning the pages and said, "Mom, you need to make the sound for me to turn the page. Which sound are you going to use?" I was quick on my feet and said, "da ring". But when we came to book number two, he asked me which sound this book made. Apparently you can't use the same sound more than once. He was pleased that I was so quick to commit to a sound, but I'm not sure I can come up with more than a dozen sounds when we read together.
• Dylan said, "Marissa has little nibbles, doesn't she mom?"
• When Marissa got thrush and had it on her lips, Dylan asked, "What is that, Mom? Is it super glue?"
• When Dylan had a pain in the back of his leg he said, "Mom, my leg pit hurts."
• Dylan calls the umbilical cord the intestical cord
• Dylan was requesting a recent story we'd read in the scriptures. He couldn't remember the name and referred to the Ammonites as the Clementines.
• Dylan can never remember the word millennium. He understands the basic concept and asks questions about it frequently, but tends to refer to it as the elemity.
• "Mom girls are funny. They do weird things. Well, not you really. But like Kambrie, if you throw a ball to her, she just ducks. You don't really do that though, do you, Mom? You try to catch it."
• We were passing the industrial area in Salt Lake and Dylan was talking about the steam coming out of the smoke stacks. He said, "Are those things so far up in the sky because they're making clouds?"
• Dylan was lying down in the tub and he said, "Hey mom, look at me. I'm one tub long. I'm getting so big. I wonder what I'll do when I'm seven. Maybe I'll have to take a bath in a hot tub or something."
• We were getting the kids ready for bed and Dylan wanted Marcos to lie down by him after we said prayers. Marcos told him goodnight and then Dylan said, "Goodnight, Papi. You need to go brush your teeth. They smell horrible. They smell like a mushroom or something."
• Dylan came home from Kindergarten last year and said, "We did something from church at school today." I said, "What?" He replied, "We watched Noah's arc."
• We were reading a story out of the Friend that he chose to read even though we'd read it before. He said, "Oh, I love that story. It really gives me a warm feeling inside." He said the same thing later that day when he was watching one of the animated Book of Mormon movies. It's sweet that he recognizes the Spirit when he feels it.
• Dylan saw that I was changing the calendar and it was the 22nd. He said, "Mom, is it the twenty tooth today (22th)."
• We were reading a dinosaur book and he said, "Oh mom, I think this is the first dinosaur that became extunct."
• Marcos took Dylan to work because he didn't have visits scheduled that day and just needed to help get ready for their employee party. He did have to stop at a patient's house though to drop off some papers. He's not allowed to take Dylan with him into the patient's house and was trying to explain to Dylan that he would have to wait in the car for a minute while he went inside. Dylan said, "Oh don't you worry, Papi. I'll stay right here and wait for you. I'm not going to get you fired."
• Dylan was really excited about going to work with Marcos and talked about it all week. He would call Marcos and say, "So what are we going to do at work? Are we going to help people?" Later that week he was telling me, "Don't you worry, Mom. I'm going to work so hard. I'm going to make lots of money for our family because I'm such a hard worker."
• It was hailing outside and Dylan said, "Hey, do they make hail out of dippin' dots?" I think he meant "do they make dippin' dots out of hail" but it was really funny either way.
• Dylan said some mean things to me and I told him that it hurt my feelings and he needed to go to the naughty mat. When I called him off to talk to him he asked me if I would forgive him. I told him yes, but that he needed to be more kind to others. He said, "Oh mom, Heavenly Father answered my prayer. I asked him to help me and he said to talk to you and that you would forgive me." How could I possibly be mad after that?

Life...and Dylan's Testimony

Sometimes my kids amaze me. They make me crazy with their fighting, I worry about their development, I want to scream when they think it's funny and jump on top of me...but sometimes they just amaze me.

Getting a good routine down has been tough. I've tweaked it several times in the last couple of weeks, but I'm getting there. It seems to be working. Preston is a tough one to read. I never know what he's thinking or how he's developing. And then he does or says something and I realize he's just fine. He learns on his own. He learns from watching and observing. He's not one to repeat or to even humor you with answering questions. But one day he will just say something and I realize he knows exactly what I was worried I needed to teach him. But he's been communicating so much better. His behavior is going in the right direction (it was rough just before and after Marissa was born) and the sweet little boy that I knew is coming back. He's still 3 - the hardest age for me - but he's there. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful for divine guidance. We're making needed progress and it makes my heart sing!

Then there's Dylan. Dylan is, well, he's Dylan. He's a smart little cookie, but he's tough in other ways. He's an emotional child by nature. He's sensitive. He gets his feelings hurt and he gets angry very easily. But we're making strides there too.

Life's been crazy. It seems like when one thing happens, a million things do. Whether it's a trial or just an insane time of many changes, I'm not sure, but it's been crazy. We are busy. We are and we aren't. I'm with my kids all day, but I have a "To Do" list that never ends. Marcos is coaching, he's super busy with work, he has lots of high council responsibilities and then tries to help with things like the lawn...and even folding laundry or doing dishes occasionally. :) Young Women's has me SUPER busy, we're part of this book club/class so I have big, hard books to read (which is so good for me, but takes some real time and brain power), I have home school to plan and prepare (and have been reading up a ton to get more ideas) and then there's the normal day-to-day cleaning, taking care of kids and thinking about going back to the gym (still just a thought, but hopefully a reality in the near future- I caught a cold so I put it off a little longer).

Anyway... today was a good day, but another insane day as far as trying to coordinate and get everything done. I was trying to get the kids ready for bed (late because my mom was here) and the baby needed to eat earlier than expected. Marcos was at a high council meeting so I was doing my best to bathe and read to the kids while attempting to nurse the baby. Because we were late getting going, I was tempted to rush, but after books Dylan was talking to me and asked if he could go get his scriptures. He opened to the scripture he'd memorized the week before for Primary and read it (he only memorized a summarized version so he really did have to read part of it). I was shocked at how eager he was to read (and at how much his reading has improved in the last couple of weeks). He went on to read the next verse. He really does love the scriptures! Then he looked at me all serious and started talking to me. Here's what I remember. "Mom, when I go on my mission I am going to have to preach my testimony. I am going to tell the people that Heavenly Father loves them and will be with them always." (That's when he got choked up and stopped to wipe his eyes with his shirt). The sweet and innocent yet powerful testimony of children never ceases to amaze me. That is why I cried every dang week as Primary chorister. Those kids believe. Dylan TRULY BELIEVES! I am amazed at God's wisdom and love and overwhelmed with the fact that he has entrusted me with three incredible spirits to raise up in such a wicked, scary world. Three very different, unbelievable spirits!

Mountain Man Rendezvous - Part 2

Here are some pictures from our adventure at the big mountain man rendezvous in Ft. Bridger...and it was an adventure. And we had NO cell phone service. Poor Marcos didn't know what to do. Between the drive and our long day, we were gone for almost 11 hours. Let me just tell you...pushing a stroller with a baby and Preston (who refused to walk for the first half of the day) over bumpy terrain while attempting to avoid bumping into all sorts of people was more of a challenge than I expected. We were there for 6 1/2 hours and when we got back to the car, I felt like I'd walked 20 miles - my legs and forearms were feeling every bit of it! It was so worth it though. Seeing all the gear and hearing all sort of experts talk about what they love was so much fun for the boys. I loved watching the blacksmith at work and Dylan could have watched the Indian dances forever. He kept saying things like, "How do you say 'All-lay' in Spanish?" How the heck do I know! It was some word they kept chanting during their dances. It was cool to see all the people in their authentic gear, even if it meant a few scantily clad folk here and there and a couple of tipsy mountain men enjoying their "rendezvous recreation" way too much. :) Dylan is now really excited to learn more about the Indians, which I am making our next unit for school. Back to the library I go! All in all, it was an amazing day! Dylan even found a little friend who was probably around 10. That kid was so cool and knew EVERYTHING! He showed Dylan how to sharpen a knife (although Dylan used a piece of wood). He had made his very own knife and walked us through the process. Dylan could have listened to that kid forever! And the kid had a good time taking a turn using Dylan's new bow and arrow (don't worry, the arrow has a rubber tip - I'm not that crazy!) We came home with a bunch of wooden weapons (a sword, knife, two guns, a bow and three arrows). Those kids have gotten tons of use out of them already! Preston was pretty good too. He was tired at first, enjoyed most of it and got silly and mischievous at the end. Good thing I was ready to go by then. Marissa spent the day being lulled to sleep over bumpy roads and eating in the most unusual places. Overall it was a great day! Sometimes I can't believe I have three kids....and can handle them in a big public place by myself all day long. :)

Mountain Man Rendezvous - Part 1

Friday we set out for another field trip. I heard there was a mountain man rendezvous in Ogden so we timed our unit study around the event. We headed up Friday morning and were a bit disappointed to learn that most of the activities took place on Saturday. We also found out there was a MUCH BIGGER rendezvous in Ft. Bridger - just outside of Evanston. Hmm... change of plans. We decided to hit the Treehouse Museum Friday and even without Marcos (who had to do stake baptisms all day Saturday) I decided to be brave and head up to Ft. Bridger with the three kids on Saturday. We wanted to experience as much mountain man stuff as we could. Looking back, Ogden probably would have been big enough for our young group, but it was still tons of fun and quite the adventure.

Here are the boys trying on "coon-skin" hats and playing with their wooden guns.

It was actually really fun to watch Dylan play after we'd been to the rendezvous Friday morning. He headed right over to the western area where he started playing "mountain man" with camping gear and a pet jackrabbit. Preston spent a lot of time at the trains so I walked back and forth keeping an eye on both of them. It was hilarious listening to Dylan talk to his horse, saying things like, "That's right. You can do it, boy. That's what I like to hear. Let's go trap some beavers." I love watching my kids learn through play!

Temple Square

A couple weeks ago, Marcos took off a random day just to come hang out with the family. He has been so busy at work and hadn't had many days off since Marissa was born so we decided it was time for a family day. Life had gotten pretty overwhelming for me with a nice big dose of the "baby blues" and probably more like postpartum depression hitting me (something I didn't experience to that degree with the boys). I really needed an outing...and some intervention (which came later). Anyway, here are some pictures from our day in Salt lake.

We walked around temple square, ate at the Lion House and even ran into Elder Oaks

We finished off our more "educational" morning with some fun at the Gateway Fountains. Marissa was content as long as she was fed (which did not always happen at convenient locations, but we made it work...one time we tucked ourselves away from people on the grounds at temple square - we couldn't find a mother's room anywhere - and another time we made it back to the parking lot at the Gateway so I could sit in the van)