Silly Lily

Oh, Miss Lily. So full of life and energy. When I was a little girl my uncle gave me the nickname of "Spitfire" because I could have quite the feisty attitude. Well, I think I've passed that down to Lily. She is so full of life and laughter and all out craziness. She loves to laugh and play with her brothers. She whines and begs to be picked up and as soon as you have her she squirms to be put down, and so you put her down and she whines and begs and the cycle goes on and on.

A lot of the ladies at church get a good kick out of her because of her craziness. She loves to turn around on the bench and laugh an talk to the people behind her. She lets out some really loud squeals and yells and she is ALL over the place and I can NEVER get her to sit still. I've devised a plan where we go to sacrament, during Sunday school we stay in the hall the entire time and I let her run off some energy so that that way I can got to Relief Society and get most of the lesson in.

She loves to wag her little finger around and say "stop it." She has even started to sass back in her own little language and I get quite the kick out of it. She also has the most loving side to her. She says "hiiiiiii" in the softest, sweetest, girliest voice ever. It's my absolute favorite thing she says. She also LOVES to give hugs to anyone close to her size and in her proximity. She will crawl up to little kids at church and lean her head on them and try to give them so many loves.

She has 12 teeth and they are so cute and goofy and I love her smile. And if she's being particularly silly she does this face where she smiles and scrunches up her eyes and she looks like Chunck from Goonies.

She has her moments when she can be quite the handful but at other times she is the complete opposite and so easy going, can roam and play and keep herself entertained for hours. Yesterday I went to the bathroom and came out to find this:

Lily covered in peach yogurt and "Mmmmm - Mmmmmming."

Oh Miss Beans, what would we ever do without you? You are crazy and wild, sweet and cuddly, sassy and silly, and we all sure love you!

Toothless?

Jace lost his first tooth on November 11. (I know, I'm so on top of things.) It was discovered several weeks ago that he had a loose tooth, but behind that tooth he already had his permanent tooth growing in, and quite a bit.

So we spent the next few weeks wiggling the tooth and we even tried to pull it, but it wouldn't come. So we went to the dentist worried about over-crowding. Sure enough, the dentist decided to pull it. Jace was lucky enought to have banana flavored laughing gas and they numbed him up, gave him a shot, and pulled the tooth. Thank goodness the dentist and hygenists were awesome and they never mentioned the shot and just told him he was going to get some "sleepy medicine" for his lips and teeth. They popped it out and he was able to take home his first lost tooth in an envelope!

The Tooth Fairy came and left him two dollars, and you would have thought he won the lottery! That Tooth Fairy stuff is hard to remeber to take care of. Thank goodness Lily woke up at 3:45 am or else the Tooth Fairy would have forgot and Jace would have been devestated.

So here's the proud boy with his not-so-much gaping hole.

(He's going to hate me in future years for this picture. :) )

Halloween 2010

The great debate was on this year to as what the kids were going to be. It was that constant changing of their minds as to what they wanted to be. So we sat them down a few weeks before Halloween and MADE them decide.

They decided on Batman and Robin. Jace took the high road and let Cole choose which one he was going to be. Usually, since Jace is older, he would naturally be Batman. However, Cole chose Batman and Jace was just as excited to be Robin. So then of course Lily had to be Cat Woman/ black cat.

And when we go with a theme, we really go with a theme.

We bought Cole's costume and I made Jace's. Lily's was pretty simple to put together, and really I only had to buy the ears. They had so much fun being Batman and Robin! Jace loved his costume, and when he put it on he said, "Mom, I think I look pretty darn awesome."

We did the trunk-or-treat at our ward Saturday night and it started pouring on us. We got home and the boys were soaked and they decided that they didn't want to go out for any more trick-or-treating; so they got in their jammies and stayed home. I love how easy they are! (And so does their dad because that meant he didn't have to go out either.)

Having Halloween on a Sunday was not so fun. Dressing them up for school on Friday, trick-or-treating on Saturday, and a family party on Sunday did me in. Keeping track of all the little pieces of their costumes was annoying and I ended up having to make two masks for Jace because we lost one. Oh, the things you do for your kids.

They had a blast being Batman and Robin, and now they are so excited and are planning their costumes of Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione for next year.

Look Whooo Turned One!

Lily turned 1 last Saturday, Oct. 2nd. How is it even possible that a year could go by that fast? I have truly enjoyed this past year with having a little girl in our family. She is so full of life and energy, has a smile for anyone. Besides when she is tired, she is always happy. And I mean always.

We celebrated her birthday with family and a few close friends Friday night. It was an owl theme, and it the night turned out perfectly. I went for a girly, whimisical, fall-ish theme.

We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, and veggies for dinner.

Dessert was an assortment of vanilla and chocolate owl cupcakes and owl sugar cookies.

Lily had her very own mini owl cake. Thank you Joslyn, for teaching me how to do fondant.

We had a few games for the kids of Pin the Beak on the Owl, Bean Bag Toss (thru the owl's eyes), and Crack the Egg out of the Nest (popping balloons).

Lily received so many fun new GIRL toys: baby dolls, a purse, a tea set, and a stroller. She also received lots of fantastically girly outfits. Who knew it could make me so happy to see little dolls and girl toys laying around the house? The poor girl has been deprived.

Thank you so much to all of our family and friends that came and supported Lily and her first year of life.

Thank you Lindsey, for designing such an adorable birthday invitation and favor tags.

Thank you Karlee, for taking such great pictures for me so that I didn't have to worry about that aspect of the night while trying to entertain the guests.

At the end of the night, Bryan summed it up best when he said, "You know what? We're pretty blessed to have such great family and friends."

Yes, Dear; we are.

Lily, we love you so much and you have added so much joy and happiness to our family. Boy, Sundays would sure be different without you! Happy Birthday, Miss Beans!

Dinner Time Entertainment

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I would share.

Here is our crazy, loud, and yet adorable, Lily. She truly is a wild woman. She NEVER sits still. I mean NEVER. She likes to make us laugh and she definitely knows how to keep us entertained at dinner.

Kindergarten and Preschool

It's official. I have a kindergartner. And this wasn't easy for me to accept.

Jace started kindergarten on September 1. He was so ready. I thought I was.

I wasn't.

(Standing in front of our back door because the sun was too bright in the front)

I took him to school the first day and had to fight back the tears even before we got there. He was so excited, yet a little nervous and I could tell by the way he would walk around with his arms folded. That's Jace's "nervous twitch" - arms folded across his chest and eyes scanning the ground.

(Playing on the playground with his cute friend, Allie)

(Standing in front of his classroom door)

I did well until he went into his classroom and it was time for me to walk away.

(My friends thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of me crying. Luckily, you can't tell I'm a blubbery mess.)

I cried off and on for the remainder of the day. And if I think about it too much, I still cry.

(Like right now.)

He loves kindergarten so far and it has been fun to have him come home everyday and ask him what he did in class. I get to hear lots of new songs, I find out what kids had to "pull a card" that day, who he played with at recess, and if he earned a "caughtcha."

I have this love/hate relationship with dropping him off at school. I love to see how big and responsible he looks as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and marches his way through the kindergarten gate ready to conquer the world. And yet, I hate to see him so big and independent, knowing that I'm not going to be right there with him to protect him from the harsh reality of this world.

Cole misses his big brother immensely. Multiple times throughout the morning he asks, "When's Jace gonna be home?" He's kind of lost without him. And to be honest, so am I. I've forgotten how to entertain a child. It's been a dream to have Jace and Cole be best friends because they rely on each other for entertainment.

Two days after Jace started school, Cole had to go off and start preschool on me too.


Sheesh.

He, too, is so excited to be going to school. During preschool orientation, a week earlier, he was sitting in front of me while his teacher was going over the rules, when he turned around to me and whispered, "I love this school." He's been waiting for a whole year to be able to go to Teacher Nisha's.

Surprisingly, I didn't have as hard of a time sending Cole to preschool as I thought I would. It was strange to leave him at school, yet fun to see him so ready to go and not be afraid as I thought he would be. He needs this independence.

(Cole on his playground.)

I think I'm having such a hard time with this because I know their childhood is slipping by me so quickly. And I look back over the years and question if I've done enough, played enough with them, made enough memories with them, taught them enough, scolded and yelled too much, enjoyed who they are enough.

So with a new school year, there's a sense of renewal. Here's to loving them more, laughing with them more, reading to them more, yelling less, having more patience, kissing them more, snuggling them more, and reflecting on those moments more.

18 Months of Perks

I may come to regret this post, but I've decided to be honest about life and how it plays out; so here it goes.

I have had the privilege of enjoying some benefits for the last 18 months since the time that I became pregnant with Lily until I finished nursing. I didn't quit nursing by choice, it just so happened that the milk producing department of my body put up the OUT OF ORDER sign.

Since this has happened, it has caused me to reflect on what I've enjoyed over the past year and a half. I know that pregnancy and nursing have a very long list of miserable qualities; however, they also have their own "perks".

When I was pregnant with Lily, Bryan once asked me this question (and while we were in the company of his brother), "Ashlee, do you know what my favorite part about pregnancy is? Pregnancy boobs."

Yes Dear, you are correct. It's the best part for me too.

You see, when my older sister stood in the "Bosom Line" up in heaven, she took her fair share of the amount allotted and then she decided to be greedy and take my amount as well. Nuff said.

So as you can see, pregnancy and nursing end up being a blessing to me in the bosom department. Many women hate the added blessing. Well, not me. I'll take all I can get, thanks.

A couple of other perks relate to Sundays. Two words: FAST SUNDAY. Yep, it's back to fasting full time. Is it bad to say that I didn't miss it? This also means a full three hour block of church. I always was able to cut Sunday school short because Lily was on such a set schedule that feeding time always fell then.

Wow, church sure has gotten a lot longer.

And finally, on one of the greatest perks it brings is the long separation of a certain relative. Yep, that one annoying aunt that brings her presence around once a month. You know that's an aunt that I don't get excited to see at the monthly family reunion. She's the one you run and hide from for as long as possible. She's the one that forces you to pack on a couple of pounds while she's around and you're crabby and not your self until she leaves.

I'd get pregnant tomorrow just to not see her ugly face again.

[Sigh]

I miss the perks.

Especially the perky ones.

Hmmmmm.......

Maybe I need to get this little girl a doll to play with.......

I Swear

Sometimes motherhood just makes me want to swear - you know, REALLY swear. As much as I refrain from actually saying those colorful words, I must say things can run rampant in my head. (Do I get extra points for not actually letting them loose?)

There's the good swear: "You are so ******** cute!"

And the not so good swear: "You little ******* you gave your baby sister a black eye?!!?!!"

And of course there are many more 'not-so-good-swears' that I just won't mention when it comes to the whining, fighting, tantrums, hour-long-dinner-eating-sessions, etc., etc. Now I know why my mom would just let them loose sometimes when I was growing up - it's just part of being a mom.

The Simple Things

Jace's Day:

1. He regained the Wii back - he'd been grounded from it for three days.

2. He got his backpack for kindergarten - I caved and allowed a Star Wars one. (I wish I could have gotten a picture of the two boys struttin' around Target wearing their new backpacks)

3. I let him and Cole get a Ring Pop at the check-out counter.

4. They got to watch a movie in the car.

5. We went swimming for Bryan's company party.

6. He got to have McDonald's for dinner.

After all of this he declared, "This is the best day of my life, EVER!" I love that the simple things in life make him so happy.

Neighborhood Hang Out

A few months ago, my aunt and her family stopped by my house for a little visit while they were in town. While they were at my house (it was a total of about and hour) I had three different little boys over at my house to play. She asked me if my house was the "Koolaid House;" you know, the house that all the kids hang out at. Well, it kind of is. And I don't mind. It's nice to have the kids here and know where they are and what they're up to. It's kind of fun to see who all stops by and asks if Jace can play in a day's time.

Well, apparently my house is super cool. Because not only are the neighborhood kids dropping by and hanging around, but the critters like to hang out too. Yes, I've talked about the scorpions, lizards, gross bugs, and the tarantula; the last couple of days a snake has joined the mix, and it really didn't want to leave.

It started Saturday afternoon when I went to get the mail. I saw something sticking up out of the grass and thought it was a stick, but as I got closer I realized it was a snake "standing" up pretty straight and high in the air. I took a picture of it on my phone to show the boys and then Bryan and I chased it off into the neighbor's yard.

Saturday evening, Bryan discovered that the snake was living in a hole behind a sprinkler head at the corner of our driveway. The boys and I found it entertaining to sit and watch it peak its head out of the hole and slide in and out. A couple of neighbor kids came over as I was getting up the courage to kill it with the shovel when the little 11 year old girl asked if she could catch it. So I let her. She patiently waited for about an hour but the snake never came back out again enough for her to catch it.

Well, today things changed. As I was getting out of the shower, Jace came running into the bathroom and said, "The snake's on the front porch and Rusty's cats are attacking it." I wrapped myself in my robe and went out my garage and my neighbor was standing there with her son, another little boy, and her two cats were on the porch by the snake. Here's the story:

She said she was in her back yard when she heard this blood curdling scream...and it wasn't stopping. So she sent her son to see what was going on. Apparently the other little boy had come to my house when I was in the shower, and saw the snake all stretched out across the step that leads into my house and he started screaming like a little girl. So she came over and brought her cats to try and kill the snake, but they lost interest and wouldn't do the nasty job. So there were six of us standing at the end of my porch watching this two foot snake. It had curled itself up and so my neighbor got the guts up and put a bucket over the top of the snake and said she would send her eleven year old daughter back over to dispose of it in a couple of hours.

Well, I couldn't wait that long and so I called my neighbor boy and asked him, "Shamon, are you afraid of snakes." He told me, "No, I'll be over," without me even having to tell him what I needed. He came over and tried to get the snake into the bucket, but it just wasn't working out they way we had hoped. His mom then drove by and stopped and she ended up being the hero. She took the shovel and did a series of dragging, then scooping and throwing the snake down the driveway, across the street, and over the edge of the cliff.

I am just a little puzzled as to why all of the nasty creatures seem to love my house. Enough already!! AND.... why is it that all of the critters like to play as Bryan's away? If we ever move, it won't be because we don't like the neighborhood, it will be because we don't like the creepy crawlies that COME with the neighborhood.

A Reprieve

Ah, Fathers and Sons.

The one night and morning that you look forward to for several weeks, maybe even a whole year, that guarantees you some "alone" time. Some time to do all (okay, some) of those things when you always think, "If I didn't have to take the kids, I would do that." So you can imagine how excited I was to enjoy this alone time.

Well, as the day was going on and I was trying to plan out my evening of excitement, a couple of things hit me. The first was trying to decide what I actually wanted to do with all of my time. I even made a list. Should I go shopping, clean the house, work on a craft, call up a friend and go out, plan for trek, of just plain veg. So many good options because all of these are accomplished much easier when the kids aren't around.

As I sit here typing this I still can't decide what I'm going to do with the rest of my time tonight.....

Also, as I was taking down the tent (because it was set up in the basement), gathering blankets and pillows, shopping for their dinner and other necessities, and preparing some of their dinner ahead of time, I thought how ironic this Fathers and Sons thing is. Here the MOTHER is preparing and gathering and making sure they have everything they need so that the BOYS could dash out the door as soon as DAD got home so that they could go do some bonding.

But then again, I guess I want to ensure they get gone for my own selfish desires.

Well, this night has turned out to be even more ironic. The weather has not cooperated at all. Wet, cold, rainy weather is not going to be an enjoyable time for a five and three year old. So Bryan decided that they weren't going to sleep over, and unfortunately that brand new tent just isn't going to be used quite yet for some actual camping. Maybe basement camping is all that tent's going to see. He also decided that it would be best to feed to boys at home where it was warm and not so miserable.

Which I have to agree with. He's absolutely right. I would do the same thing if I were in his shoes.

However, now that I have spent my entire day preparing for them to go off and enjoy themselves so that I could enjoy myself, I am now left with dishes and a messy kitchen to clean from their Father and Sons dinner.

And I can expect them back at 10:00-ish (or maybe sooner).

So much for a restful night to myself, sleeping in, and a lazy morning.

So much for my reprieve.

Guess How Much I Love You?

I love you 18 freshly ironed shirts.

(said Big Nutbrown Hare)

Lily Beans

I can't help but post these pictures of Lily. She is seven months old with two teeth and about four more about to break through, blonde hair growing in like crazy, and a sassy personality to boot.

Thank you, Rissa for the adorable skirt.

Preschool Graduation

On the 19th of the this month, Jace graduated from his cute Happy Hearts Preschool. Jace absolutely loved going to preschool and he especially loved his fantastic teacher, Teacher Nisha.

Having a child go to school makes you realize just how fast time passes by. As a student myself, I use to think that the school year dragged on. Now, as a mother, the school year is gone in what seems like a matter of minutes.

It has been fun to see what Jace has learned over the past year. Some of Jace's proudest accomplishments are counting to 100 by 1's, 5's, 10's, counting to 1000 by 100's, and he is now reading.

At his graduation, Bryan and I, and also some of the other parents, got a kick out of watching and listening to him. Their little graduation program consisted of them repeating the sounds of the alphabet, counting to 100, and singing three songs. Let's just say that Jace was definitely the loudest student and he kept everyone on track and led the pack in their sounds and numbers. Bryan called him the little Valedictorian.

Jace, you are such a smart little man and you amaze me at your ability to learn and absorb new information. I am so grateful that you love to learn and I hope you carry that with you throughout the rest of your life. I thoroughly enjoy being your mother and you challenge me every day with your questions and inquisitiveness. I love you.

Cole's Third Birthday

On April 28, Cole celebrated his third birthday. When he woke up and ran out to see what his presents were, he wasn't too excited. He woke up to this:

And as he saw it he asked in a tone of complete disgust, "A bicycle?" It was as if he was saying, "Why the crap did you get me a bicycle?" When I asked him what he wished he would have gotten instead he said, "Where's my dragon cake?"

(You see, the cake was a big decision. Every year for their birthdays I make the boys whatever kind of theme cake they want. This year, since Cole loves to do whatever Jace does, he said he wanted a Yoda cake. If it wasn't going to be a Yoda cake he would change his mind to whatever other kind of cake Jace would suggest. So I finally got him to decide on his own what kind of cake he wanted and he chose a dragon cake because he really loved the "How To Train Your Dragon" movie.)

Well, he eventually warmed up to the bicycle and has loved riding it outside - on the few days it's been warm -and also in the basement.

For a fun activity that day, he chose to go to Kangaroo Zoo and McDonalds for lunch. We then had dinner at home with Grandma Pam and Papa Gene and were able to end the night with the long awaited Dragon Cake.

Cole, you are something else. My feelings for you can go from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of seconds: totally in love with you to then wanting to pull my hair out! You can look at me with those deep set eyes framed by those squishy cheeks and curly blonde hair and tell me "Mom, I love you too,"and absolutely melt my heart. Then you have this air of defiance and do things just because you know I don't want you to. Then, when I'm trying to talk to you about not doing those things, you raise your nose in the air and stomp away from me swinging your little bum from side to side. Or another reaction when I catch you doing something naughty is to turn your head to the side, close your eyes, raise your nose in the air, and say "No!" in a snappy little tone.

You have so many sides to you: you are funny and mischeivous; loving and defiant; sweet and sassy; soft spoken and LOUD; cuddly and rough.

You are so completely full of energy and spunk and love to be a rough and tumble little guy. You love to box, sword fight, jump, run, and yell. I don't believe you quite know your own strength and you have a hard time containing it. You are constantly falling but you never let it keep you down for long. You usually laugh and hop right back up and start running again.

You love your brother so much and love to play with him and cry and beg for him when he leaves to play with other friends. You are adventurous and not afraid to try new things. You easily got on that new bicycle of yours and took off in a matter of minutes. You just want to go and do - no matter what it is - and you usually succeed quite easily at any new physical challenge.

I have been amazed at the level of comprehension you have developed just this past month. At scripture time and Family Home Evening I wasn't quite sure you had been listening, but now you want to listen and learn and have come to understand so many new things.

So far I believe you are the one that I feel the need to protect the most. I think it is your trusting nature and your inquisitiveness that makes me nervous. I have a feeling that there are going to be many challenges in your life that you will have to face and I don't want you to have to go through them, so I have this urge to keep you young and safe.

I can see your older brother growing up so fast and changing so much and I don't want that to happen to you yet. I feel like I have already lost these last couple of years with you because you have grown up so quickly with an older sibling to follow and imitate and try to be just as old as. With Jace being the oldest I was always ready for him to go on to the next stage and see what he could do and learn. But with you, I want you to stay young. I don't want to lose that "babyness" in you. I want to always have that little boy that begs me to be his "snuggle bunny" and just to hold him.

I will always be here to be your snuggle bunny when you're having a bad day. Because if your day starts off rough and you're grouchy and just plain having a hard time, that's what we do: we snuggle. And it makes all the difference in the world.

I love you so much,

Mom

Why Do I Torture Myself?

Today I had to go out shopping. And I had to take all 3 kids. It was unavoidable because tomorrow is Bryan's birthday and I needed to finish up some birthday shopping. And I was dreading this shopping trip it to say the least.

I have been very spoiled for the last three months, because whenever I really needed to go out shopping I would just go and leave all of the kids home with Bryan. See, unemployment has some benefits to it - NO SHOPPING WITH KIDS

Anyway, we get going and store #1 was fine. No problems and they were pretty well behaved. Just 100 questions or so from Jace.

Store #2 was Old Navy. Things were fine, the boys received suckers from a worker and they were just sitting on the base of a clothing rack, sucking away and being quiet. And then I hear Cole say, "Mom, my thumb's stuck." Old Navy has display racks made from galvanized metal with holes in them that look like the pole of a STOP sign. Get it? Well, Cole decided to stick his thumb in there because of course it's a perfect fit.

I immediately told him not to pull on it because I actually know someone who had a son that did the exact same thing at an Old Navy, and it cut his thumb all up and he had to get stitches. So I grabbed my lotion out of my purse and started rubbing it around his little thumb and pulling gently. It wasn't coming and he started screaming. I tried to remain calm but I was getting slightly panicked because I couldn't get it out. I flagged down a worker for some help and was asking her for any other ideas when luckily his thumb came out. Thank goodness it wasn't cut. Cole was upset and his thumb was red and irritated, but he was fine.Seriously, though?

Okay Old Navy, it's time for some new clothing racks WITHOUT toddler sized finger holes.

Then it was on to store #3 (I know, I'm pushing it at this point). My anxiety and stress level has raised considerably from store two to store three. In store #3 the boys are wandering off, chasing each other around the clothing racks, punching, and wrestling in the store. How many times do I have to ask them to stay by me and to keep their hands to themselves? Ugh.

We then traveled home took some naps and then went back out to one more store because I still didn't find what I needed for Bryan's birthday. At this store of course Jace has to use the bathroom so I sent him into the bathroom and told him to do his thing. Well, about 8 minutes later he's still not done and the toilet is flushing over and over and over. The door is locked and who knows what's going on in there? I end up having to go in there to help him finish up and I stress about that because that then leaves the other two out in the hallway by themselves and we already know what Cole's done today when I wasn't looking.

Blah, blah, blah, right? Shopping with all of the kids is not my idea of fun and it does not show off my best mothering skills. I use to be great at- calm, collected, having fun with the kids -when the boys were younger, but throw in another kiddo and two older boys and things change, and not for the better.

And to cap off the day, at dinner Jace told Bryan, "We got you some awesome shirts, but I'm not going to tell you what they are." Then when we were kneeling down for family prayers Jace prayed, "Grateful that we could buy Dad clothes for his birthday."

Awesome. Thanks, Bud.

6 Months Old

Per requests - and really just because I need to - here is a little update on Baby Lily.

Unbelievable as it may be, she is now 6 months old! It is unfathomable how fast time goes by and how much she has grown. She still remains to be an amazing baby and incredibly easy. Just like she has since she was eight weeks old, she still sleeps 12 hours a night. I can simply lay her in her crib at nap and bedtime and she will turn to her right side, suck her thumb, and put herself to sleep.

The person that makes her laugh the most is Jace. She thinks Jace is the funniest person ever and laughs so easily when he talks to her and sings, "Hi, Happy Girrrrrrl!" She loves to talk and squeal and make herself known. I think she knows she has to remind us that she is part of our family because she is so easy and quiet at times we kind of forget she's around.

I am finally starting to become more consistent in feeding her solids. With the third child I have become lazy and busy with other children that I have not pushed feeding her solids. Nursing her is just so much easier and faster than spoon feeding her a whole jar of food. From what I do feed her, she is a great eater and seems to like everything. Maybe she won't be a picky eater and can be Bryan's little egg-liking buddy.

Lily is now 14.9 lbs (25%) and 25 inches long (50%). She still is a little peanut to me and I have a hard time realizing that she really is 6 months old. She is rolling all over the place and is getting close to sitting up. She has one bottom tooth in and the second one is close to coming through as well. She will lay on the ground playing with toys or sit in her bouncer or saucer and entertain herself until she is tired.

I simply adore Lily and love the joy and happiness she brings into our family's life. She is a ray of sunshine and her gummy smile puts all of us in a better mood. We are so blessed to have her as part of the family.

Daddy's Boy

Cole is a "Daddy's Boy." Plain and simple. He cries and throws incredible fits when Bryan has to leave the house for work or meetings. When he's hurt or upset he runs to dad. If Bryan scolds or disciplines him, that doesn't matter; he turns around and runs right into Bryan's arms. Like I said, a daddy's boy.

However, lately I've been questioning this because there are certain pieces of evidence that make wonder differently.

If he is a daddy's boy, why is it me that he decides to run and puke on - for this has happened on two separate occasions. The first time he was talking to Bryan and told him he didn't feel well and Cole said he wanted me. He came over to me, sat on my lap and puked all over me: down my shirt, in my lap, all over our friend's couch. The second time was last week when Cole had been throwing up in the night. I put him in bed with Bryan so Bryan could run him to the bathroom if needed to throw up, and I slept on the couch because I, myself, was sick. Well, shortly after this arrangement Cole wandered into the family room looking for me and started gagging. As I scooped him up in my arms and ran him to the sink, half of his puke ended up in my hair and on my clothes.

Second piece of evidence: if he's such a daddy's boy then why is it me that he cries out for in the middle of the night when he has wet his bed and he needs to be bathed and cleaned up? Just last night Bryan woke me up and said, "Cole's crying for you." What did I do? I immediately went in to his room to check for a wet bed/pants. Yup, he wet the bed. Lucky me. And how did I know the bed would be wet? Because he only cries out for me in the middle of the night when he has an accident.

So I'm thinking, maybe this whole daddy's boy thing is just a ruse Cole is playing on Bryan to make him feel better. Because in all truth, I know Cole's heart ...puke.... and other bodily fluids....truly belongs to me.