ODDS and Ends

A little update on us:

Diddles is almost three months, and just as my mom says, “Wait until they are three months…just hold on until three months!” Sure enough, she’s started sleeping long stretches from about 9:00pm – 4:00am, which is heavenly! The kids go down at 7:00 (last night 6:30) and Josh and I get to just sit and talk and spend time watching her stretch and look around and SMILE and just be happy. The other night Josh blew a raspberry on her belly and she LAUGHED. It was magical. There is nothing sweeter than a baby’s laugh.

Right before she starts to fuss she gets what the kids call "Crazy Eyes" - it's that stressed, upset, furrowed brow that looks a little somethin' like this:

Then the rapid breathing begins and sometimes crying ensues, unless something is done to appease her. The kids find the "Crazy Eyes" hilarious, but it's also their nonverbal cue to BACK OFF and leave their sister alone before Mama Bear gets mad!

Yaks went and potty trained himself. I always have to remind myself that kids eventually train themselves. It’s such a test of patience to wait out each child and let them figure it out. Yaks was particularly challenging because he would become SO discouraged when he would have an accident. The first few times I forced underwear on him and he had an accident, he totally started crying. “I’m so TIRED of having accidents!” Oh, his despair still makes me well up with tears. I gave him a big hug, of course, and then we went back to diapers. He eventually figured out how to sit on the toilet and do it all on his own, when he was ready. Now we just have to figure out how to NOT use an entire roll of toilet paper when wiping.

Last week he was running around wearing this outfit. When I asked him about why he was wearing Boo’s clothes, and particularly her Tinkerbell T-shirt and SKIRT he replied, “Well…I don have any clean unnerwear, so I hat to bowow Boo’s” (he pulls his skirt down to reveal princess underwear) “So I had to match it.” He had to wear a Princess t-shirt and skirt to match his underwear. You heard it here first.

Boo. Oh, Boo. She’s five and the stinky attitude and stubborn independence has surfaced. It’s particularly challenging in the evenings when I know she’s tired. I’m tired. Everyone’s tired, and our tempers are all short. Unfortunately she chooses this time to tease her brother, manhandle her sister and disobey. I can only think that she needs attention. I’ve got to figure out a way for her to get some more. Fortunately for my sanity, we were invited to join in on a preschool with some ladies/five-year-olds in the ward. It meets on Mondays and Wednesdays for a couple of hours. She’s become good friends with a little girl named Holly, who is also in her primary class. Boo adores her and talks about her all the time. Holly’s mom is also my visiting teacher, and we’ve become friends, which is great for all of us! Hooray for making friends!

Josh ordered the kids some North Face jackets so we can “face” the winters here. He got them both black jackets so that Yaks can grow into Boo’s. We didn’t take into account that Boo wouldn’t want to wear a coat that wasn’t pink or purple. Thanks to an idea from Nana, we headed to the fabric store and let her select a girly decoration to “cover up the boy words” on her jacket. Problem solved.

Josh is busy, busy at work, but he seems to be doing a great job (as we knew he would). He's really getting some great experience in managing people and big projects. Fortunately, he still has the energy at the end of the day to come home and spend time with the kids, playing games or wrestling, and of course giving "horsey backs" to bed! We love him.

We aren’t homeless for Thanksgiving! We were down to the wire and had tried inviting the missionaries or finding someone who wanted to come over. We don’t know many people and most go out of town for the holiday. I was ready to make a reservation at a restaurant (only I don’t think ANY are serving Thanksgiving in our small town). Then on Sunday like an answer to a prayer, a young family who had tried inviting us over several times, asked us to join their family for Thanksgiving. We’re excited. They have three kids the same ages as ours, but flipped genders, so it should be fun to spend time getting to know them.

We were asked to speak in church this coming Sunday on the topic of Gratitude. It should be interesting juggling our two talks and tag-teaming with three kids. I’ll be GRATEFUL when that is over! Also in an attempt to be more social, I’m having a Cookie Exchange party at our house next month. Our old neighborhood had it annually and I thought it was a lot of fun. Each person brings four dozen cookies. They come, enjoy a little brunch and then load up their tray with an assortment of everyone’s cookies. Hopefully it will be successful and people will come! As Josh said, “Are you sure? Throwing parties isn’t your thing.” Well, it’s not my thing, but we need to meet people and make friends, and what better way than throwing a party? Wish me luck!