Upset & Disappointed

I'm a little perturbed over something that I hope some of you feel the same way. The Olympics have started and some of my favorite sports to watch are swimming, diving, rowing and gymnastics. The US girls gymnastics team were competing yesterday; it wasn't for a medal but a very important night. Out of the 5 girls only 2 of them go on to the finals. If you were watching you would've seen the amazing routines, amazing landings, the mistakes and the scores. Jordyn Weiber who is the reigning champion I thought did an excellent job compared to the rest of her teammates. She hardly made any mistakes, was clean, didn't fall, solid landings BUT she didn't make the cut for the finals. What? You've got to be kidding me. A huge disappointment. Her scores were really low too. I felt so bad for Jordyn. I mean she's the reigning champion, hardly any mistakes and she doesn't make it. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Her teammate Gabby made a HUGE mistake on the floor routine and got a higher score than Jordyn. How would you feel? Imagine you're the reigning champion for some sport, you work so hard to get to the Olympics, feeling confident you've done a great job on all of the routines and you'll make it to the finals when you find out you didn't. Heartbroken, angry, hurt, all the emotions hitting you at once. What do you do? I don't know what it was the judges didn't like in Jordyn, but I felt she was judged wrong on her routines; we're talking about 14.3 scores and that's without big mistakes if any vs. the other girls who made some mistakes maybe big mistakes and they get a 14.8 or a 15. something. Something is seriously messed up with this judging. I know life's not fair, but is it fair to the person who is clean and solid with their routine to not make it, but the one who is semi clean and makes mistakes does? I'm just sayin'! I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading :)

Happy News

Starting on Mon. the 23 when Alexander was ready to get dressed I told him we were going to wear underwear. He was excited. He told me throughout the day he needed to pee. I put a pull up on at night, the next morning he wakes up tells me "I need to go pee" and to my surprise the pull up was dry. I'm happy to say my son I do believe is potty trained! :) Yippee. He's only had a few accidents, one was on purpose. He's really good about recognizing when he needs to go, and he'll do it himself. He woke up this morning and went to the bathroom on his own and came out and said he went pee standing up. He was so proud of himself. His pull ups all week have been dry, that's amazing! Now if only we can get him to be "Poo trained!" I think his behavior this week is due to the fact he's gone pee in the toilet all week. He's been really good and a lot of fun. Hopefully this behavior continues!! Way to go Alexander, I'm so proud of you.

Overly sensitive

I'm going to have a pity party for Lara. Maybe it's not so much a pity party, but more of a venting moment. I love being home with the kids, I love being a mom, playing with the kids, cleaning, cooking and all that jazz. However, I do get to a point to where I get exhausted with everything. I'm overly sensitive with what people say so I just want to hide and cry. The other day after giving Alexander a bath I was getting him dressed, but he told me he wanted Daddy to get him dressed because I was mean. He told me to go away. I can relate to my cousin Cindy when little Atticus would say he wanted to be with Eric. Of course they don't mean it, but for just a moment it cuts your heart. Today I've been sharp and feeling a little burnt out. I love cooking, but I get tired of cleaning up after the meal. Thankfully my husband helps out with that part. We live with my parents and my mom is in Ogden taking care of my sweet grandparents who are in their 90's so it's just my Dad with us. My Dad does a lot and it's not a complaint about my Dad, but a little help inside the house would be nice. It would definitely help. What's going to work? Team Work! Sometimes I just want to scream because I don't seem to get recognized or is appreciated for all I do even though my husband and father work hard. Do us mothers ever get a break? Sorry. It sounds more like complaining. It's just been a day to where I feel bad about everything and just want to hide and cry. Don't worry it'll go away, but mommy needs some TLC!!

Cooking Bombs

I consider myself a pretty good cook. An even more of a cook when it comes to cooking for Alexander; i.e. the sweet stuff! Monday was Jose's birthday and being overly excited because of cupcakes I made Alexander could eat and were delicious I decided to branch out and try a cake. Easy to follow, had all the ingredients piece of cake. WRONG! It was as hard as a brick and the middle wasn't even done. It tasted nasty, but Alexander seemed to like it. Needless to say it was thrown out that night and Alexander hasn't asked about it since (maybe he really didn't like it)! Bombshell #1. Last night I was planning on making scones for navajo tacos and I found a recipe I could use for Alexander, but I was missing one ingredient. Bag that recipe. Found one and it seemed pretty ease, but when it said the dough should look like curds it wasn't getting to that point. I decided to cook it instead. It looked ok so I asked Alexander to taste it. He said he like it, but when it came to eating it for dinner he said he didn't like it. I don't blame him. I wasn't going to force him to eat it, especially when it felt heavy and didn't smell good. Bomb #2. What have I learned from these 2 bombs? Stick with the usual....cupcakes or cookies for Alexander!! Trust only Cybele Pascal when it comes to cooking dairy, wheat, egg and nut free! Thank you Cybele for your cook books and making food edible.

Summer Days

Summer days are here...finally! I'm always so anxious for Summer to come so I can enjoy being with my kids and hopefully to get a vacation in or two! My Summer started off with a funeral in Texas for my cousin's sweet 4 year old boy. My brother said it best "That was the hardest weekend of my life." It was hard and sad, but on the same note it was good to be there with family, to feel all the love and the spirit there. The spirit there was amazing and incredible; little Atticus was there watching. Eric and Cindy you really do have amazing friends in your ward and neighborhood and such an inspiration of that little guy of yours. He will be missed but never forgotten. Haven't done much since; just a few little things with the kids that are simple and not a lot of money. Alexander and Ava are growing up so much. We came upon a picture of Alexander from last year from Easter, my how chubby he is (as chubby as Alexander can be), and it's so...cute. Alexander is really into super heroes these days, he changes who he is from day to day. One day it's "Today I'm Iron Man" or "Mom, you're super woman and I'm Superman okay?" He even has special powers. He has a blast like Iron Man does with his hands and my favorite is the eye trick that blows people up. He just stares at you for 5 seconds then looks away. It's hilarious. Ava is my slow mover. She knows how to crawl, but she thinks she can move faster by scooting. She will stand and she will walk holding your hands, but she'll freak out if you try to get her to walk holding only one of your hands. This baby girl has NO fear. She'll go right to the edge of a bed; loves playing on the bed. She LOVES the stairs and loves to go to the right corner of the top stair and sit there. She knows how to go down, but on her bum. She makes me very nervous. We had to put a gate up. She's one busy body and very curious. Alexander was a very mellow baby, we never had to worry about "baby proofing" the house with him; Ava on the other hand it's everything! While in Texas her favorite sayings were "What's that" pointing to everything and "who's that." One morning when she woke up she was sitting in the pak n play and the first thing you hear is "what's that!" The simple joys of life. Jose and I are doing well. Jose is working hard and keeping busy. Me, I'm keeping busy, trying to balance playing with the kids, cooking, housework and trying to find time to myself. Life is good.

Where to begin...

This post is probably a bunch of mumbo jumbo since there's nothing in particular I really want to talk about. I can give an update on my sweet babies. Alexander is 3 and I was reading in the Parents magazine how they said "terrible two's and the testing three's!" Straight to the tee they are correct. It was like the instant Alexander turned 3 is when he started to be testy!! He likes to yell, tell us no and he's still scratching. I don't know how to get him away from that. However, he is still a sweet and good little boy. He weighs 27 lbs., still a tiny guy, but he's growing strong and healthy. He's been experiencing growing pains, which are really hard for him, but we always tell him it's because he's growing. Ava is so fun. She is 10 months and at her 9 month check-up she weighed 16 lbs. her height was good and her head is still off the charts because of how small it is. Don't worry, it's in proportion with her body!! She's going to be a little one just like Alexander. She can still wear 6 month clothing and her 9 month clothing is still a little big on her. I prefer that because she'll get use out of her clothes, wear them more than once or twice!! She has two teeth on the bottom and that's all I can see for now. She's not crawling yet, I practice with her every day, but she always cries when I put her on her stomach; probably because she thinks I'm putting her down for a nap! She'll scoot, man it's amazing how fast they can move on their bums. She'll stretch with her scooting as far as she can just so she doesn't have to get on her knees! She's getting close though. She has a pretty big appetite. She LOVES yogurt, mashed potatoes (without milk or butter) bread and those fruit puree things you can drink (thanks Cindy for introducing them). She really enjoys feeding herself and enjoys being held. Who wouldn't?! She waves and I wish I had a video to show you because it's really cute how she waves. If she's really excited she'll get both hands moving as well as her feet! My children bring me such joy. It's truly amazing the amount of love that can expressed and felt for your children. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me such a wonderful gift, motherhood.

Vacation 2011

Yes I know, summer vacation? It's almost winter. It's better late than never. In August we took a family vacation down where the sun is hot...St. George. Us girls went down early to have a day without the men. It was nice to stay up late, eat whatever you want whenever you want and no one to tell you what to do. With that little entry here is the Top Ten Highlights of Vacation 2011.
10. Christy's "my little blanky;" a blanket she uses to rub her fingers together to create a certain sound and feel. (This blanket is very, very old and very, very sad looking).
9. Mom's "jerky" driving in St. George (mainly the parking lot areas).
8. Hearing this gagging noise only to find out it's Christy contstantly looking at her tonsils. She's obsessed.
7. Vacationing to St. George to swim (partly the main reason), but then realizing after checking into the hotel that the swimsuit was forgotten then hunting the stores for a new one!!
6. Jose and Dad capturing a creature of the forest....a horny toad, not just a little one, but a BIG one. Side note, if you ever catch one they hiss!
5. Mom being banned from sleeping in the bus due to excessive loud snoring!
4. "Earn a Dollar" with Marsha. (Created by Marsha)
3. Dad telling Jose to stay close by so he doesn't get lost only to have us turn around twice! Who's the lost one?
2. The double stroller being set aside and being abandoned at the outlet store. It almost got chucked, literally! That's what you get when you leave your Dad to buy a stroller at a yard sale. Side note #2: I'm not against yard sales, it's just this stroller was a piece of junk; a mind of its own, can't be put up or down without at least 5 people. How many people does it take to work a double stroller?!
And the #1 highlight of vacation 2011: Going to Tuachan to see "The Little Mermaid" and taking pictures with the cast. Not waiting in line to take the pictures. In the words of Jose "I have a baby with me...can't wait!"