6 signs you are ready to to have a toddler and a baby:

#6 You LOVE repetition.

Toddlers and Babies are both in the learning process.  Everything is new to them and they love to practice their developing skills until they master them.  For Baby, this means you will play endless games of "pick up the spoon" at meal time and peekaboo at play time.  For Toddler, this means you will build the same block tower over and over, endure memory played incorrectly dozens of times, assemble a 9 piece puzzle well over 90 times, and count to 10 so many times you just as well have counted to 10 million.

Despite their rapid learning skills, they seem to have very short memories.  No matter how many times you take the rock out of Baby's mouth and say "No, no," or "Yucky!", every time she gets on the ground, she will pick one up and chew on it.  If she catches you throwing something away, she will still return to the garbage can to retrieve it even after you have pulled her away 10 times (Thank you baby-gate manufacturers!).  And no matter how many times  you pull her away, she will still be interested in playing in the toilet water.

Toddlers will only remember what you told them for about 1 second if they didn't like what you said.  This means you will have to repeat that he can not have food yet 15 times in the 5 minutes before Daddy gets home for dinner.  It also means there will be repeated warnings not to jump on Baby.....followed by numerous "Time Outs" for jumping on Baby.  You will be asked "Why" and expected to give the same answer you gave 30 seconds ago.  And you will still have to ask him to pick up his crayons so they don't get broken 50 times even though he has realized that he only likes "fixed" (unbroken) crayons.


#5 You are a very logical person.

Have you ever done anything and not known why?  You are going to want to immediately discontinue any such actions.  First, you will need all your available energy to keep up with your Toddler and Baby and do your daily chores around the house.  Second, everything you do will be questioned by your Toddler and mimicked by your Baby.  "Mom, why did you take that plate off the table?" (Baby follows you to sink).  "Why did you poop?" (Baby unrolls toilet paper).  "Why do you let me color?" (Baby eats crayon).  "Why do you have to make dinner?"  (Baby and Toddler get mixing spoons from drawer).  "Why do you have to work on the computer?" (Baby grabs mouse).  "Why do you listen to music?" (Baby smiles as new song comes on). "Why did you drive that way?" (Baby squeals).

On the bright side, if you have ever felt the need to understand yourself better, you have a great therapist who is unlikely judge your actions as good or bad......but will act out the worst ones for you at the most inopportune moments like on isle 3 at the grocery store or the middle of Sacrament meeting.  This will likely cause immense reflection on the behaviors you wish to continue and which you wish to curb ASAP.


#4 Organization is just not your thing.

If you are one of those "a place for everything, and everything in its place" type people, having a toddler and a baby around is going to wreak havoc on your psyche.  Of course, since the toddler was once a baby, most of the dangerous things have already been moved out of the lower cupboards....but now the upper cupboards are also in the "danger zone."    This unfortunately means there really is no where to put things and have them be left alone.  If you can find one space in the house that is inaccessible, it is your medicine cabinet.  Everything else must be somewhat "at risk" of being touched, moved, broken, or buried.  

Couch cushions may have been designed for sitting on, but really they are multipurpose items that can be immediately transformed from seats, to forts, to trampolines, to slides, ladders, and baby carriers.

Kitchen utensils that you thought were for stirring make great magic wands, and both Toddler and Baby are great at making them magically disappear right as you need them. 

That deal-with-this-later mail pile you have on your counter is suddenly the best source of coloring paper to be imagined.  Once Toddler has made them bright colors, they are often turned into confetti by Baby and used to decorate your freshly vacuumed living room. This of course causes upset ranting from Toddler about his masterpieces being destroyed while he was helping himself to a snack from the candy jar.  The candy jar is inevitably dropped spilling the contents all over the stove just before you need to start dinner....pizza anyone?

Speaking of dinner, the clean dishes have been carted off to the sandbox while the dirty dishes that you put neatly by the sink are probably all over the kitchen.

 Throughout your own childhood, your parents may have required you to make your bed.....this is now an exercise in futility since as soon as you have completed the task, Toddler will lift Baby onto the bed and create a cave that they can both play in—whether Baby wants to or not.

The shoes you thought you took off right by the door last night have magically walked off seemingly of their own accord.  Your keys, that you always hang on the hook somehow found their way to the plant on the toilet.  Your purse and all its contents have been carted off to the bathtub and separated from each other.  Toys that you just threw in the toy box are suddenly all over the house. And clothes that you just folded have become a hiding place for stuffed bears.  Nothing will ever stay where it is for long, so you'd better brush up on your hide and seek skills....you're going to need them.

#3 You know everything.

Nope, not kidding.  You must know everything.  At least, you must have an answer for every question a toddler can think of.  These are, of course, open ended questions and are often only 1 word: WHY?  Skilled parents will teach their toddlers to ask the whole question before they answer.  Why is the sky blue? Why do I need to wash my hair?  Why are you going poop? Why does Daddy have to go to work?  Why do we eat food?  What are you talking about?  Why is that hot?  Why are we going to Grandma's house? Why can I color my pictures?  Why, Why, Why?

Toddlers are great interrogators, as soon as you have answered the first question, they will ask a
follow up question, probably to make sure you actually knew what you were talking about.  And should you display any indication that you don't actually know the answer, they will ask you why you don't know the answer.  Sometimes you can distract them, or at least slow the questions by asking them the same question....but usually this is only a minor setback  in what must be the toddlers' quest to ask 10 million questions by the time they reach age 4.


#2 Refereeing might be your dream job.

from: themetapicture.com/dont-turn-your-back/

Everyone cheers when the home team intercepts the ball from the opposition.  The crowd usually goes wild if that interception leads to a score. One side excitedly cheering on their favorites, and the other side cursing the refs, shouting, "How did you not call that foul, are you blind?" But ultimately, the referee makes the call if the points stand or fall.  If you love that kind of power and scrutiny, parenting a toddler and a baby is right up your alley!
First, you have to constantly watch the toddler to make sure he doesn't pummel the unsuspecting princess with any number of objects (couch cushions, pillows, teddy bears, blankets, trains, , chairs, blocks, books, baseball bats....)  You must be vigilant about this because toddlers are very fast.  One moment they might be building a fort on the couch, and the next they may have built a trampoline on top of the baby.

Second, those interceptions you love to watch on TV....they've got nothing on the hands of a toddler.  Baby picks up anything, toddler swoops and for the steal.  After repeated warnings that "you can't take something out of the baby's hands" the toddler has exhausted all his foul points and must be pulled from the game for a few minutes (ie, sent to his room).  Only the quickest of eyes will notice that this stealing is not one sided, however.  Babies are sneaky.  They convince their parents that they are fragile little things incapable of taking something away from the "big bad toddler" but such is not the case.  Usually Baby will wait close by until Toddler puts down the object just for a second before trying to take it, but occasionally, Baby will want something so bad, she will basically climb on Toddler to get it.  These are moments of great confusion for the distracted ref-Mom who must determine who was actually playing with her shoe first.

Finally, you have to decide when to call the game on account of bloodshed and when to just let them duke it out.  Okay, really you can't just let them duke it out, but you also can't prevent every bump and bruise they are going to give each other.  Toddler is going to help Baby onto the couch and she is going to fall off.  Baby is going to pull Toddler's hair and he is going to scream.  She will also probably scratch his eyes out while trying to show him how much she loves him and he is going to squeeze her breath out giving her a hug. They might kill each other, but they also fiercely love each other.  They will be each others biggest challenges and greatest support system.


#1-You thrive on 3-4 hours of sleep.


Studies keep being released that the body NEEDS 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and mothers of a toddler and a baby everywhere LAUGH OUT LOUD.  7 hours, are you kidding me???  What dream world are you living in?  Not that we wouldn't LOVE to get 7-9 hours of sleep a night (and enter that dream world scientist seem to be in), but lets, face it, it's not gonna happen.  By the time you get the toddler to sleep (lets pretend he actually went to bed at bedtime and was asleep by 9:00),  the baby is up again needing to be fed, changed, and what not which takes about an hour......10:00 p.m.  Not a bad time for bed----except this is the first chance you have had all day to talk to your husband and you need to catch up on his week (Did I say week? I meant month) and by the time you've had a few minutes to enjoy each others company, the clock is somehow reading 12:00 p.m.....That's okay right, the kids usually sleep until about 7:30, should be good to go.  But wait, just as you lay your head on the pillow, the baby is awake again wanting a bottle, luckily she can hold it herself.--12:30 Sleep at last.   This short lived pleasure is quickly interrupted around 2:00 by the toddler who has had a bad dream and needs to sleep with you (you like cuddling right?)  This wouldn't be so bad, except toddlers are wiggly sleepers and it takes about an hour for him to settle into position, which happens to be perpendicular to and between Mom and Dad.  Eventually you are able to position yourself around him in some convoluted semi circle and fall back to sleep around 4:00.  5:00, Baby wakes up needing more food.....what is this, where does all that food go...oh yeah, she needs a diaper change too. 5:30, back to sleep, 6:30 husband's alarm goes off 6:31, back to semi sleep because toddler is wiggling again and you can hear that baby is moving in her crib and you are praying she stays asleep.  This state of semi sleep continues until baby actually wakes up with bubbly happy sounds all ready to play with her big brother who has now "woken up" and is now drunkenly walking to the kitchen for his morning milk....Goodbye sweet bed.

Gone Casting

Children have such a funny way of being honest ;)

Yesterday we went over to my Mom's to celebrate her birthday.  While we were there, Dad decided it would be fun to take Mom fishing.  So he got online and bought her a fishing license for her birthday present. 

Not long after, we were all on our way up the mountain to Bench's pond.  Jake and I didn't have licenses, but that was okay because Baby Girl kept us pretty occupied walking all over the dock.....she is super fast for a 9 month old.

Aunt Holly was chosen to share her pole with Little Man.  So the two of them would cast and reel, cast and reel.  Turns out Little Man is almost as good at casting as Aunt Holly ;).

Every time they would reel in the line, Little Man would get very excited to see what they caught.  If there was anything on the line, it was moss......which meant there were a lot of empty lines being pulled back in.

In reality, this was rather entertaining because Little Man would regularly declare, "You caught....Nothing."

Little Man would go down planks a bit to visit Grandma and Grandpa while they were fishing.  At one point, he noticed a dead fish and proceeded to tell Holly, "Don't catch the dead fish, Holly!"

Then he went back to watch her reel in another empty line, and repeated, "You caught... NOTHING."

After while, she got tired of catching "nothing" and walked down the dock and hooked the dead fish.  Before she could get it lowered back into the water, it fell off her hook and splashed her....guess that's what you get for not listening to a 3 year old about the finesse of fishing ;)

Baby Girl was getting cold, so Jake and I headed home before everyone else....but as of the time we left, everyone had "caught nothing."  So unfortunately, it looks like we won't be having fish for dinner this week.

But that's okay because at one point, I had teased Holly about not catching anything and she told me she was "casting" instead of fishing......it's like the difference between hunting and killing.   All in all, we had a good "Casting" trip and a nice drive up the mountain.

One Day, When I'm a little bigger

Kids can say the cutest things,

Tonight we went to our ward camp-out/dinner which happened to be at Palisade Park.  Our drive to and from the event took us past the Manti Temple.  Since Little Man doesn't often see the temple, we try to take the opportunity to teach about it while we pass.....which of course often includes the doctrine of eternal marriage.

Tonight was no exception.  Jake was reminding Little Man the Manti Temple was where Mommy and Daddy were married so we will all be a family forever.

The following conversation ensued.

Little Man: I'm not married.
Daddy: No, not yet.
LM: And 'Attalie (our neighbor and occasional babysitter) is not married.
Daddy: No, she isn't.
LM: One day, when I'm a little bigger, I can grow up and marry 'Attalie and she can live with us for ever and ever.

Jake and I were giggling so hard, while still trying to maintain some type of conversation encouraging Little Man to grow up and marry in the temple, while not creating unrealistic expectations of being able to marry 'Attalie.....only because I expect  'Attalie will be married before I allow Little Man to start dating.

Though I hadn't really expected to have to deal with "crushes" for a few years, I'm grateful we have a babysitter Little Man loves ;).

I'm hooked

I consider myself to be a normal person.  I have normal responsibilities like cleaning house, working, and taking care of my children.   I also have normal hobbies like reading, doing crafts, and crocheting.

Usually these normal hobbies occupy a normal (read small) amount of my time.  But occasionally I start something that I get obsessed with.

During these periods of obsession, I do the bare necessities of my normal responsibilities---dishes that don't have to be washed stay dirty, laundry stays in the hamper, toys stay spread all over the floor.  I must now apologize to my loving husband for these periods and express my gratitude for his help with the housework.

Often during these times, you will find me huddled up on the couch while my kids entertain themselves.

I recently  went through one of these periods with crocheting (thanks for not visiting my house last week ;) ).

It all started innocently enough. Baby girl was blessed in beautiful crocheted dress, and  I couldn't stand the thought of a future daughter not being blessed in a similar beautiful gown.  Fortunately, my grandma had taught me to crochet when I was a young girl.  Unfortunately, I had never attempted anything that wasn't rectangular.

Nevertheless, I found a pattern on Pinterest and gave it a shot.  It took about 7 months, but I did eventually finish it.  And I am quite pleased with the results.  It is a simple dress, but I think it is nice.

And that's when things got crazy.  Once I had finished the simple dress, I decided to try a more difficult pattern.  Only this time, I couldn't put it down.  I was totally hooked :) I crocheted at every possible moment.....and a mere 5 days after I started the second dress, it was finished!  And I think it is quite beautiful.

It turned out a little larger than I was expecting.  I was intending to make a blessing/christening dress but it happens to fit my 9 month old Princess.  So, this beautiful dress will be available on Etsy until August 29 if anyone wants it.  After that, you can see it displayed at church by the most beautiful model you'll ever see ;)  (Dress sold)

Mobile FHE

Family Home Evening with a toddler is always a bit of a challenge (one that I'm not really expecting to get any easier with teenagers, but).....

To start with, Little Man has a fairly short attention span on things he isn't directing.  This is where all that mission training on how to teach one gospel topic in a clear CONCISE manner really comes in handy.

Then, Little Man has a very long attention span on something he is directing.  (Can you say "WHY?")

But perhaps one of the most challenging aspects is that no matter where we do FHE or how clean the room is, there always seems to be something to distract his attention from the lesson.  Even if that something isn't in the room, or house, or isn't a something, but a some-event or some-conversation, or some random thought that happened to cross his mind because of what we said.

And as parents, we must learn to work around those distractions or do our best to use them to our advantage.

One recent "use it to our advantage" occurred in our family not too long ago.

Because of our driveway, Jake and I have been planning on buying a 4-wheeler since we made an offer on the house.  We are SO GRATEFUL to our wonderful family and neighbors who have come to our rescue and plowed us out each snow storm, but we still feel it is best for us to be as self-sufficient as possible.  So we recently purchased our "snow plow."

And Little Man loves going on rides with Daddy.

Well, not too long ago, Daddy took Little Man out for a ride so I could get the FHE lesson ready.  Only when they got home, Little Man did NOT want to get off the 4-wheeler.  So instead of making Little Man come to FHE, we took FHE to him!

All 4 of us sat on the 4-wheeler and had our (3 minute) FHE lesson.  And since Little Man was where he wanted to be, he was happy and attentive.  He probably paid better attention that time than he has in any other lesson.  Who knows, maybe we will have to fulfill Little Man's multiple requests since then to have FHE on the 4-wheeler :)

Falling Kisses

Bed times with a toddler can often be a bit of a challenge.  Especially with a Little Man who doesn't really like to go to sleep.

We have found that having a routine has helped a LOT so long as we start it on time.  And for the most part, we don't have too many bedtime fights with him any more.  Of course we have the occasional night where he wont go to sleep and we wind up spending an hour or so in his room before giving in and letting him sleep in our bed (before he wanders in at 3:00 a.m. anyway).

But somethings are so sweet, and so fun!

A part of our nightly bedtime routine its giving hugs and kisses.  For quite some time we have done "bear hugs" where we almost get pummeled  by his strength--he is a pretty strong 3 year old.  And yet, as energetic as his hugs are for Mommy and Daddy, he is always so tender and gentle when he gives Baby Girl her goodnight hug.

Recently though, Little Man started a new thing that I thought was pretty cute.  He gives us a kiss, then falls backwards so we have to catch him.  He told us they are "Falling Kisses."  So for now, each night, I get 3 falling kisses before he jumps over to Daddy to give more falling kisses.

So sweet, and so cute to watch them grow up.

A little bit crafty

I have never really considered myself gifted in the crafting area.

I enjoy doing crafts, but often when I get finished I have a project that looks like I let my 3 year old do it for me.....and it has been that way most of my life.

For the most part, I am okay with this lack of talent.  Most of the time I am quite content with the gifts that I do have and don't worry too much about creating beautiful art-type projects.

There is, however, one major exception to my contentedness, and that is when it comes to making things for my family, especially my children.  Because of that, I often turn to my quite gifted husband who usually is able to create what I want--or better. For example these beautiful puzzles (which happen to be available for purchase here if you are interested)

Also these awesome candy collecting bags for the parade.

But occasionally, I like to do projects that don't increase the workload for someone else.  At those times, I am grateful for tools that make creating things easy!  A few months ago, I decided to get a Silhouette to be able to make cute paper creations.  And it has been fun!!!

And I have been able to create some cute stuff.  See...

For one project I have recently decided to do, I had a LOT of help from the internet.  Some awesome lady named Monsterrat colored all or most of the flannel board stories published in The Friend and made them available on her blog.  At some point, I stumbled across them and thought how cool it would be to use them, but that it would not be cool to have to cut out all those pictures by hand.  So I decided to use my cool new silhouette software (downloadable for free here) and make them into "print and cut" files.

Creating the files took a bit of time, but I am excited by the results on the few I have actually been able to do (we had a bit of a printer issue).  But since things seem to have worked out so well, I thought I would share the files so others could use them too.

If you don't have a Silhouette, you can still use the files to print to your computer, and the individual pieces are easily resized and separated from the other images.  I have only included the pictures.  If you would also like the story files you can get them from Monsterrat's blog Cranial Hiccups or from the Friend.

Here is a link to the print and cut files in dropbox.  Please let me know if it doesn't work as I'm a bit new to this file sharing thing.

Book of Mormon stories
Church History
New Testament
Old Testament

Eyes

The human eye is absolutely amazing.  At birth, most eyes are the same blue color.  But as the child grows, pigment may change those blue eyes to brown, green, or hazel in many different shades.

Our eyes have the ability to to detect light and adjust their dilation to allow us optimum perception of the things around us.  Quite the feat considering the thousands of objects and colors they are perceiving and sending to our brains, which then decipher the world around us.

Our eyes have even been called the windows to our souls.

But despite the capabilities of our eyes to perceive details, they do not act alone.  Our ever processing brains take that information and determine what is worth "filing away for later reference" and what can be "discarded."  It is my belief that this process is heavily influenced by our prior experiences.  Becaues of that, I don't believe two people can ever see things exactly the same way. Even looking at a painting, from exactly the same angle, a person's experiences will influence the perception of what is important about the painting--what is beautiful, what needs to be improved.


In recent months (and perhaps years) gender equality in the LDS church has been circulated in the news--particularly as it pertains to the Priesthood.  Some women argue that without the Priesthood women are inferior to men, therefore we must need to be ordained to it.  Others argue that women are superior to men without the Priesthood and therefore we don't need it (nor should we want it).  Of course, few if any actually state their arguments so plainly, but that's what it seems to boil down to.

The confusing thing is, both sides are looking at the same picture.  The history of men and women in the church is the same no matter what argument you are trying to side with, but your personal beliefs make certain aspects of it "stick out like a sore thumb," possibly even to the point that you can't see the rest of the picture.

In many of these arguments, men's and women's roles in the church and the family are compared and weighed to determine which has the greater value--or which one should be more prized.  Often this is done with the pretense of proving that we are "equal" (though it rarely feels like they have given equal worth to both the men's and women's roles).

In all this debating, I have come to realize there really is but one important question to ask about the equality of men's and women's roles:
  
 Equal in whose eyes?

In my eyes? In your eyes? In some person down the street's eyes? The feminist's eyes? The Chauvinist's eyes?

No.  The real eyes we should care about are God's.  And He has told us through many prophetic teachings that we are all equal in His eyes.  For example:

Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

In the eyes of God, whether in the Church or in the family, women and men are equal, with different responsibilities.

Where spiritual things are concerned, as pertaining to all of the gifts of the Spirit, with reference to the receipt of revelation, the gaining of testimonies, and the seeing of visions, in all matters that pertain to godliness and holiness and which are brought to pass as a result of personal righteousness—in all these things men and women stand in a position of absolute equality before the Lord. He is no respecter of persons nor of sexes, and he blesses those men and those women who seek him and serve him and keep his commandments.

So, I guess there is a second question:  Do I believe Him?

"I have pee in me"

You were warned in the title ;)  If you don't like reading potty stories, you should stop here.

My Little Man will be 3 way too soon, and I have been trying to encourage him to start going on the potty, but sometimes what Mommy wants and what Little Man wants are not the same thing.

Probably 5 or 6 months ago, I started putting him on the potty to start getting him used to the idea of using it.  Unfortunately, he really didn't like it.  He would scream that he didn't want to use the potty.  So instead of scaring the poor kid for life, I decided to back off a bit and wait a little while.

Well,  now is that little while later.  Last week, I took Little Man with me to Wal-mart and let  him pick out 10 new pairs of underwear (to go with the 5 he got for Christmas).  We also picked out a step stool (the "cool stool") for him to use to get up to the potty.


I have been telling Little Man that "soon" he will have to start using the potty instead of diapers.  He would tell  me back "Yeah, soon, but not today."  So after our shopping trip I told him that he will get to learn to use the potty tomorrow.  He wasn't too thrilled with that idea and told me "But you said we will do it soon."-----which he has sadly come to associate with "not right now".

Anyway, the next morning after I had gotten myself dressed, I put my Little Man in underwear basically for the first time.  I also changed my normal habit of restricting liquid intake (to encourage eating) and kept filling up the sippy cup.  I think we went through 8 of the 15 pairs of underwear before 6:00 p.m. when I put him back in a diaper so we could go for a walk and put him to bed. But I was expecting that.  What I wasn't expecting was how quickly Little Man would tell me he was wet afterwards.  He also seemed to be grasping the concept of feeling the need to use the bathroom.

Several times he told me "I think I have pee in me."

Don't get me wrong, we had quite a few accidents on day 1.  One of the funniest was about 5  minutes after a prior accident.  I put him up on the toilet after to let him pee if he still needed to.  He said there wasn't any more pee, so I put new underwear and pants on him and sent him to the kitchen to wait for me to wash my hands and come get his "sat on the potty" treat (one handful of goldfish).  He climbed up on the counter to wait, and proceeded to pee all over it before I could even get out of the bathroom.

Day 2 actually went quite well.  Before I even got him out of his (DRY!) bedtime diaper he told me "I have pee in me!" I continued to fill his sippy cup up VERY frequently and ask him if he needed to go potty.  In the 6 hours he was wearing underwear, he only had 2 accidents, and many successes!  He (and I) would get so excited when he would go on the potty.  And most of the times he would have a success, he would remind me "Now I get a chocolate coin and lots of goldfish!"  I think my favorite time was when he told me "I put lots a pee in the potty, so now I get lots and lots a goldfish!"

I'm not stressing learning to use the potty quickly, and I suppose it will be several weeks before I really consider him "potty trained" but I am certainly happy with his progress.

Time to get Serious

You know those things you wish would happen, but you never really put time into making them happen.....yeah I have a few of those.

One of my current ones has been losing weight.  I would love to loose about 70 lbs....but have set my current goal at 50. 

The problem is, I have kept making excuses about making healthier choices (it's too cold to walk, I can't reduce my calorie consumption because I'm nursing, we've had lots of parties and it would be rude not to eat the food, and on and on).

The problem with that is, if I keep  making those excuses, I will never get what I actually want!

I know that having other people watching me is a huge motivator for me....so here it is.

Each Monday until the first snow fall, I will post the following things--on a blog I set up specifically for that purpose to avoid having this blog become overwhelmed with boring posts.

Number of days I exercised 30 minutes or more (goal of 5 days per week)
How many calories I was under or over budget
Number of pounds lost or gained

So drop on by once in a while at robynsweightlossreporter.blogspot.com to keep me motivated :)  And if you would like to join me, feel free to post your weight loss/exercise goals in the comments!

If I manage to loose 50 pounds, you may even be able to convince me to post before and after pictures.

Biking adventures

Jake loves to bike.

When we were living at BYU, he would ride his bike 7 miles nearly every day to UVU to get to school and then over to work.  Even in the dead of winter.   (Seriously, I remember he had biked to work and wasn't able to come rescue me when my car broke down on the freeway on what had to have been the coldest day of they year--Thanks again Chad!)

What he has not liked is wearing a helmet.  In 5 years of marriage,  I have never known him to wear one.  Thankfully, there are those rare occasions I didn't know about.

The Young Men are planning an 80 mile bike ride early this summer, so biking has become a frequent weeknight activity for them.  This week they headed out on a dirt road west of town.  As young men (and their leaders) often like to do, several of them decided to go REALLY FAST.

From what I hear, Jake had taken a pretty good lead and just after he had rounded the bend on a downhill slope, his jacket fell out of the carrying basket and jammed into the breaks on the front tire bringing the front of the bike to an abrupt STOP.  Unfortunately, it didn't have the same effect on the back of the bike or its rider.  Jake apparently flew over the handle bars, landing face-first on the hard gravel.  One of the young men commented that it was the "coolest wreck" he had ever seen.

Unfortunately, "coolest wrecks"  often involve more than just a little dusting off to get over...and this one was no exception.  One of the rocks that broke his fall decided to take a portion of his front tooth as payment for the service.  A handful of others decided to rent some space under the skin of his palms, and a few more decided to do some scratch-off art on his arms.

Jake tells me he could feel himself loosing consciousness shortly after the crash.  He said he remembers the feeling of loosing consciousness and not wanting to actually pass out.  So he offered a prayer and felt prompted to drink water.  As soon as he did so, the sensation of passing out decreased.

Our Bishop (who is also a doctor) was able to take Jake to the hospital and help take care of his wounds.  While they were on the way to the hospital, Jake called me on my cell phone but I didn't recognize the number.  When I answered, he asked, "Is this Robyn?"  (Which is not really something you would expect a husband to ask.)  "Yes."  Then he said "This is Jake."  And my mental response was "Jake who?"

Of course I know who my husband is, but in all honesty, I did not recognize his voice.  I'm not sure if that was a result of his dazed state or that his mouth may not  have been functioning normally after taking such a banging.  In any case, I did eventually figure out who Jake was as he was explaining to me that he had been in a bike wreck and was headed to the hospital.

Thank Heaven for having close family members and friends.  I called my mom and she agreed to keep my kids while I went to the hospital. I hadn't even had time to finish packing up the kids before I got a phone call from Sister Lee offering to come over and watch them for me.

Of course it was after regular office hours, so Jake wound up in the ER.  When I got there he was covered in bandages and wrapped up in a blanket.  I was expecting the bandages....the blanket was a bit weird since Jake almost always feels warmer than I do, and the room felt quite warm to me.  Turns out his temperature had dropped to 94 degrees.

Brother Lee (Young Men's President) showed up shortly after I got there.  He told us several of the young men had commented that they were impressed Jake hadn't cursed during or after the accident.  Way to set the example, Honey.

Thankfully, since Jake was wearing a helmet (supplied by Brother Lee), most of his wounds just needed a good scrubbing--and they evicted the rocks that had take up residence in his hands.  After about 3 hours, he was released to head home.

Getting scrubbed up

Bandages and numbing medicine

Gonna be okay

All cleaned up and ready to go

Watering the Plants....

They say that ignorance is bliss.  If that is true, it must be true that ignorance is only bliss so long as you remain in ignorance.  Once the ignorance is gone, so is the bliss.

One such moment in my life occurred last week.

I suppose many mothers of toddlers and babies have mornings similar to mine.  Depending on the chosen order, each day consists of waking up, eating breakfast, sitting there enticing your toddler to eat, giving the baby a bottle, and eventually getting around to showering and getting dressed for the day.

Typically, I bring Baby Girl into the bathroom with me when I shower.  Sometimes I lock the door to keep Little Man out, but most of the time I just leave it unlocked and he comes and goes as he pleases.  But so long as Baby Girl is in the bathroom, I can at least hear if he is about to kill her.  Most mornings, Little Man goes in and out of the bathroom half a dozen times in my 10-20 minute shower.

Last Thursday, however, he didn't come in at all.  During the shower I was thinking how nice it was that he wasn't opening the door and letting all the heat out and that I was finally making it through a shower without Baby Girl getting tortured to death. I figured he was getting into a little bit of mischief, but for the moment....it was bliss ;)  Little did I know what was waiting for me.

After exiting the shower, I decided I had better take a quick peak at what Little Man was up to before I got dressed.  As I peaked through the doorway of the (other) bathroom, I noticed my Little Man happily watering the plants next to my kitchen sink.  Then I noticed the water was spilling over the kitchen counter. I let my eyes follow the water down the counters, across the kitchen floor, through the laundry room and nearly to my feet.  I was probably standing 40 feet from the kitchen sink.    Apparently, Little Man had been watering my plants the ENTIRE time I was in the shower.

Needless to say, I got dressed in record speed that morning.

As I rushed back to the kitchen, I grabbed the mop.  Yeah, that didn't work out so well as I quickly realized cleaning up all that water with the mop would probably take until Jake got home 7 hours later.

Next I reached for the dust pan and small broom and started sweeping up the water and dumping it in a bucket.  That was definitely faster, but then I remembered we recently bought a wet/dry shop vac!!!  I was saved!  That would be so much faster!

I rushed downstairs to grab it.  But wait, what was that strange sound I heard as I got to the bottom of the stairs....it sounded like DRIPPING!!!!

Oh no!  It was dripping!  The water was flowing into the heat ducts and dripping from the kitchen and bathroom into the downstairs bathroom and spare bedroom.  I grabbed the shopvac, ran back upstairs, and put towels over the heating vents....hopefully that would stop/slow the dripping into the (totally finished) basement.

Now I had one more problem, I had never used the shopvac for wet clean up.  I knew I had to do something different than for dry clean up, but what was it????  There was no way I would have time to FIND and READ the instructions.

Thank heaven for Father-in-laws!  I called Jake's dad and he was able to tell me what do to....he was also able to take a break from work and come up and hold Baby Girl and keep Little Man from traipsing through the 1/4 inch of water covering nearly a quarter of my upstairs floor.

After about 45 minutes of vacuuming up the water, I finally had it cleaned up enough that air drying was a possibility and was able to focus on the other things that needed attention....like the water that had dripped downstairs.  Thankfully, nearly all of that had gone to the the bathroom, which has linoleum flooring.  The other vent had miraculously dripped onto a table instead of soaking the carpet.

With the more urgent matters taken care of, I noticed and was able to attend to one last item that needed attention:  cleaning the soil off the counter-top, walls, and cupboards where it had either been sprayed to in some volcanic like explosion when Little Man put the sprayer in the plant or flowed to as the water cascaded over the edge of the counter.

Gratefully, the experience is over now and is something I have no trouble laughing about.  However, I'm not really sure that the 20 minutes of bliss in the shower was worth the hour plus of clean up time.

That's Not Pizza!

Dinner time with a toddler can be so amusing.

My Little Monkey  happens to be fairly picky about the foods he will actually allow to pass his lips.  Of course he has his favorites....oddly enough his happens to be salsa with a small side of chips.  But we can' have chips and salsa (or even tacos) for dinner every night, so we have been making increasingly stronger attempts at getting him to try  new foods.

Even knowing that he won't so much as touch a food, we will stick some of it on his plate.  Most nights he manages to dump the plate upside down before the prayer is over.  We are hoping that eventually he will have seen a food enough times to get curious and taste it.

One food we recently succeeded in convincing him to try was pizza.  And surprisingly, he didn't spit it out.  (Hurray!)  Yesterday, we had pizza again and  he at 1 1/2 slices!!! (which is actually kind of a lot for him).  Early this morning, he asked to have pizza again.  Of course, I told him we would not be having pizza for dinner again because we had it yesterday.

Because of school/work circumstances, today became one of those as-easy-as-it-can-be dinners...meaning we had mac and cheese.  Of course we put some on his plate (before the prayer so it could cool).  No sooner had we closed our eyes than the plate got dumped.  During the prayer he leans over and whispers to me, "I want chips and salsa.....chips and salsa."  After the prayer, we scooped the mac and cheese back up onto his plate and told him he didn't have to eat it if he didn't like it, but he did have to look at it.

Then he did something unusual......he sat down.  After a minute he he casually put his right elbow on the table and put his chin in his hand and asked "What food we got for dinner?"

I replied, "We have mac and cheese for dinner."

In total innocence (still with his chin in his hand) he says, "That's not pizza."

Jake and I just burst out laughing.  Yes, Little Man, mac and cheese is not pizza.

Adventures in the Bathroom

Did you know, it is quite possible the bathroom is the most entertaining room in your house???

Don't believe me?  Let's examine some evidence from a toddler's point of view (okay, Mom of a toddler's point of view).

1- Bathrooms have toilets.  Toilets are a pretty essential aspect of the bathroom, but its normal function for adults is just the beginning of the adventures to potty-training toddlers.  And let's face it, the adventures with toilets begin long before the potty-training.  In addition to being a place to potty, you can also read on the toilet (Sheep in Jeep is a great one), you can clean a toilet (which probably means you'll need to mop the floor---but Mom might freak out if you use the readily available water from the toilet).  You can climb on toilets (made easier if you put the lid down first).  Perhaps most importantly, you can flush the toilet, and what toddler doesn't enjoy that?

2- The bathroom houses the toilet paper.  Toilet paper has some obvious uses, but to a toddler the possibilities are endless.  For example, most adults only use a small amount of toilet paper per visit.  Toddlers on the other hand find joy in putting square after square after square into the toilet.  If you're lucky, your parents will be distracted just long enough to enjoy putting the whole roll into the toilet!  (Not to mention the fact that putting toilet paper in the toilet means you'll need to flush it!)

3- Toilet paper is long.  If you have a semi-straight shot at it, you can get the toilet paper from the bathroom on the north end of the house to the wall on the south end of the house in about 3 seconds.  (It only takes a little longer if you have corners to maneuver).  But the best part is, if Mom is busy with the baby, you can probably make two or three runs and get the whole roll out before she can stop you.

4- Bathrooms have showers.  Most toddlers don't actually like showers because the water sprays on their heads.....however, shower-heads make spreading water all over the bathroom  really fast!  Additionally, Moms and Dads typically do like showers which provides adequate time to explore EVERYTHING they have told you not to touch in the past week.

5- Bathrooms have bathtubs.  Unlike showers, many toddlers LOVE baths.This is a great time to play with the tub toys provided by Mom and Dad.  Once you have become bored with the designed functions of the tub toys, most of them make great splashing tools for soaking Mom and Dad.  Most likely, you'll have to suffer through Mom or Dad using a cup to dump water on your head.  DO NOT BE DISMAYED, most likely, they will forget to take the cup with them when they go to check on your baby sister.  You can then use the cup to relocate the water from the tub to the floor!

6- Bathrooms have sinks.  Sinks are like mini bathtubs, but you don't have to take your clothes off to use them (and soggy clothes are great for carrying water all over the house!).


7- Bathrooms have mirrors. Mirrors are awesome.  They show a reflection of the MOST ADORABLE person in the world!  They also make a great surface for artwork (soap is usually a readily available paint substitute).  Not only will you be able to enjoy your reflection and artwork at the same time, you'll probably also get to hear Mom's screams of delight when she discovers your master piece.

8- Bathrooms have soap.  Not only is soap a great paint substitute (see above), it is great for making bubbles!  The more the better.  Pump soap has become quite  popular in recent years and is of course the best for bubble-making.  These bubbles can be used to enhance your artwork, add embellishments to your face, put on your hair like a hat, eaten, or just spread all over.

9-Bathrooms have makeup.  Makeup is great.  Most Mom's put makeup on and you can barely tell.  That is SO BORING!  Makeup was designed to be seen.  Mascara is the best because you can make war faces with it.

10- Last, but certainly not least: Bathrooms have toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Many parents will buy you your own wonderfully tasting toothpaste and attempt to brush your teeth with it.   Don't let them!  That is such a waste of toothpaste!  Toothpaste should be generously applied to the toothbrush and used to enhance the artwork on the mirror.  Once the master piece is completed you can use it to detail the toilet (Mom will be so grateful!).

Picture of the bathroom that prompted the blog post....please note the foggy mirror covered in soap and lotion and the gathered up toilet paper on the back of the toilet.

Teddy Bear Traditions

One fun tradition in my family is that on a baby's first Christmas, he or she gets a Teddy Bear.  Quite honestly, I'm not sure when or how that tradition got started since I don't have my own "First Christmas" Bear. (At least not one that Mom specifically told me was my first Christmas Bear)  But I do know I have an affinity for soft cuddly Teddy Bears......and it would seem I am not the first in my ancestry line to have it.

Jake's family also seems to have a Teddy Bear tradition going and his mom makes each of her grandchildren a bear when they are born.

This past Christmas was (of course) Baby Girl's first Christmas.  And just like my Little Man's first Christmas, this was her "Teddy Bear Christmas."  She received a Christmas bear from Mommy, Grandma Jensen, and Great Grandma Brinkherhoff--maybe we should call her Goldilocks :)

Isn't she cute with all those bears :)  The bear in the blue dress was the one from Mommy (and Daddy).  The sleeping "prayin' bear" in the front was from her Great Grandma Brinkerhoff,  The bear in the red dress was from her Grandma Jensen.  The yellow bear was her being born bear from Grandma Hathaway.


We also decided to take a picture of Little Man with his first year bears.  He has his "prayin' bear" from Great Grandma Brinkerhoff, Buster the blue bear Grandma Hathaway made him, the Brown bear from Grandma Jensen, and the white bear in the blue tux from Mommy.

 Remember how I said I have an affinity for teddy bears.....well, since we were taking pictures of the kids with bears, we brought out all their BEARS (not all their stuffed animals). 

 And here is what happens when we add Mommy and Daddy's BEARS......

Don't worry, Baby Girl isn't buried under the bears.....she decided she was done being gorgeous for the camera.

Let's Do It Again!

Toddlers can be so persistent.

Have you ever had to watch a toddler for a while?  Particularly one who wants something he should not have?  Or been playing with a toddler who is learning a new skill or doing something a little bit new?

If so, you know that repetition is pretty much a way of life for toddlers.  They can ask for candy a thousand times and seem not to be deterred in the slightest that you have said no all one thousand times.  If you are "helping" them build a tower, just as you are finishing it, they'll want to knock it over and have you "build it again."

Tonight, we were teaching Little Man about the roll of prophets in the Lord's church.  To demonstrate Jake helped Little Man build a house on a board, then he took the board out from under the house.  Of course the house fell down.  I don't think the dust had settled before Little Man exclaimed, "Let's do it again!"

Jake commented on how the Lord probably said the same thing each time He called a prophet to establish/re-establish His church.

Jake's comment made me think about how often the Lord has had to re-establish His church here upon the earth because wickedness overtook its members.

It also made me grateful God is willing to try over and over again with each of us, much like that loving parent who builds the tower over and over again.

But it also made me think about how we need to be persistent like little children in our attempts to live the gospel.  We need to have the persistence to start over when our spiritual towers fall down.  We need to have the enthusiasm to try over and over again to get something right.  And when we aren't quite perfect, hopefully we can have that youthful energy to say "Let's do it again!"

Winning Battles, Losing Wars

Thankfully I have never had to live in a war zone.  At least not the kind where bombs were exploding around me, or soldiers were marching through the streets of town.   I'm young enough that I don't remember the cold war, and the other major wars we learned about in school were over long before I was born.

My personal experience with large scale conflicts is restricted mostly to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the ensuing "War on Terror."  And that has, gratefully, been from the long distance position of listening to the news.

My experience with the news tells  me that there are many small things that happen every day--but you never hear about them.  It is only when something major or "news worthy" happens that an event makes the printed page...or radio announcement.

And I suspect that it is rarely those large events that win wars.

Though I have been blessed not to have a large amount of experience in the wars of the world, there is another type of war in which I am a soldier.  Everyone is a soldier; whether they know it or not; whether they want to be or not.  It is the war between God and Satan for souls.

This war rages everyday in the life of every person.  Often it is so "uneventful" that I forget I am actually in the war zone.  I live my life trying to do the "mundane" daily things that my religious leaders have asked me to do--not really feeling like I am influenced much by the war.  But sometimes there are major attacks that bring the war not only to mind, but also to conversation and politics.

One such attack in that battle is the overturning of the Utah constitutional ban on Gay and Lesbian marriage.  I realize people have differing views on the matter.  But this is my blog, so my views take precedence here.

I believe God has given men and women sacred roles not only for this earth life, but also for eternity.  Satan understands that and has done all he can, throughout the history of the world, to prevent us from reaching the full potential of those roles.  Part of those roles are for us to help each other become perfected through marriage and the physical and emotional intimacies of that relationship.  Only in that sacred relationship can we receive all that God truly wishes for us to have in the eternities.

But it must be done in God's way.

I do not believe Gay and Lesbian relationships follow God's way.  In fact, I believe them to be sins because they are so contrary to the way He has ordained.

Many people (and political correctness) call for me to "let it go" or even to agree that Gays and Lesbians should be married.  But I can't.  I'm a soldier in God's army.  And I know it.  And I want to be.  And it is because I care for them and society as a whole that I will continue to oppose Gay and Lesbian marriage.

The overturning of the Utah constitution and the recent rulings of the Supreme Court concerning marriage are battles Satan has won in the war for souls.  But Satan will not win this war.  In the end we know that God will banish Satan and his army and they will be miserable.

But it is not the overall war that leads me to voice my opinion.  The overall war is decided.  Our individual wars are not.  Participating in a Gay or Lesbian relationship jeopardizes an individual's eternal salvation.  Those who feel they have "won the battle" because of the rulings that Gay marriage is legal are "losing the war" for their souls.  And it will be a difficult road back for them--if they choose to try to make their way back.

I know many think that my opinions mean that I "hate" gays and lesbians. I don't.  But please don't expect me to give up my beliefs to make you comfortable.  I believe that I should not only live by the gospel of Jesus Christ, I should encourage others to do the same.  And I should support measures that legally encourage the gospel to be a part of everyone's lives and oppose those legal measures that would weaken the gospel in others' lives. 

Christ called the sinners to repentance and bade them to follow him.  He did not condone their sinful acts, but He loved them.  I may not do it perfectly, but I am striving to do the same.


 For those looking for information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' stand on the matter, I would recommend the following:

The Family a Proclamation to the World
The divine institution of marriage