Flower arranging

I have a few sets of fake flowers that Libby has been really interested in playing with lately. Today, she decided to spruce up our beloved aloe vera plant.

I love her creativity.

So, we moved again.

For the past couple of years, Jared and I have often discussed how awesome it would be to live in Utah again. We love the mountains and the skiing and just the insane amount of fun outdoor recreation. And of course, we would love to live near family (his sister and parents are there). Well, as we were boarding the airplane to fly to Utah for a visit in September, Jared got an email about a possible job at BYU. It sounded amazing. Living in Utah, working at the greatest university on earth (no bias here), free tuition for our kids? Oh yeah. But even as he started to work on applications, we both felt hesitant. We didn't know why, but now that a possible opportunity was here, it didn't feel right.

A month or two later, we got another surprise. Jared was approached by a colleague in his company from a different department and basically recruited for a new position at headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. They seemed to really want him, so we thought, why not? Let's apply for this one, too. Almost immediately, he was offered the job and expected to respond soon. If he accepted the job, it would definitely be closing the door on the possible BYU opportunity, which hadn't even closed applications yet. But for some reason it seemed like the right thing to do, or at least...a good thing to do.

And so, here we are, in our 4th home in 4 years. And while I think I will always long for the mountains of Utah or the pine trees (and warmth!) of North Carolina, or the BBQ and Bluebell (and family!) in Texas, Iowa is starting to feel a teeny tiny (tiny) bit like home. But let it be known that I am only able to say this because we've had a bit of reprieve this week from the truly awful winter we've had (can't forget that record-setting -55 degree windchill in January). Ask me in the dead of winter what I think of Iowa, and I will probably be harsh.

In the 2.5 years we've lived in the midwest, I've kind of scoffed when I've heard people talk about "midwest hospitality" or how great the people are here. Maybe we have just lived in the wrong neighborhoods before, but I haven't felt particularly welcomed. (Or perhaps I'm being a little unfair by comparing midwesterners to southerners - that charming southern accent makes any exchange seem friendlier.) But this past week, I have met quite a handful of friendly neighbors and church members and I am feeling excited to be living here. We had a beautiful, warm day yesterday and our street was suddenly full of kids, weaving in and out of each others driveways, garages, and backyards. Libby took off on her little red bike, "I'm going to go play with my friends!" and followed them around for hours. The parents congregated in one of the driveways and told me the names, occupations and family histories of everyone on the block. It's apparently a pretty friendly place after all.

Libby Speak - Winter Edition

Driving to our church Christmas party, we were going to pick up a little boy and his mom, but they weren't home. Libby was very sad that her friend (whom she had never met) couldn't come.
I only have 18 friends. 

Getting out the ingredients to make gingerbread men:
We need some bread for the gingerbread man.

I ask her what her bad dreams were about:
Mean ducks trying to eat me. 
An elephant coming down the stairs trying to eat me.
A turtle ate seagull (her stuffed animal named Seagull).

I've taught her that complimenting a person before asking for something makes her more likely to get what she wants:
Mommy, you are so pretty can you please get me a cream of wheat? (She always calls it A cream of wheat.)

Daddy, I like your new jacket. Can I please have some candy?

After learning what it means to "pants" someone:
I'm shirting you. (Pulling up my shirt.)

I'm skirting you. (Pulling down my skirt.)

Discussing nutrition:
When I grow bigger like you then I will eat vegetables like carrots and broccoli.

You're a big girl now. You get to eat food like hummus and vegetables and bread.
And ice cream and popsicles and lollipops.

I sent her to wash her hands and when I went to check on her, she was standing at the sink brushing water all over the sink with a paintbrush. "Libby, did you wash your hands or have you just been playing with the paintbrush?"
I just played with the paintbrush. I dip it in there (points to toilet).

Daddy, I need to watch some TV.

Trying to convince me that inanimate objects make her do things she shouldn't:
The sugar was just wanting me to eat it! (one of the many times I found her on the counter eating brown sugar with a spoon.)

Greeting her sister:
Hi there Pipe, how was your nap?

Learning to describe things:
Is this tall or long? 

Is it 14 or 10?

Is it short or small?

I told her we were going to the store.
Cowboys don't go to the store.

I told her to wash her hands.
Goats don't wash their hands.

I told her to put her shoes on.
Superheroes don't wear shoes. 

Driving home from a neighbor's house just a couple of streets over, I didn't buckle the kids into their carseats. They started to stand up. Jenn: Kids, you have to at least pretend like you're buckled in.
Or a mailman will put us in jail. Jenn: Well, a mailman can't put us in jail, but a policeman can.
Well, it's a type of man. 

Singing her own made up song after church one day:
I will sit in my chair and raise my hand. I will keep my feet away from other people. I will be good for Jesus. I will be a sunbeam.

What are you excited about in our new house?
I like the basement in our new house a little bit better than this house. And I like the door knobs and the doors.

I picked her up and accidentally poked her in the bum with my keys.
Now I won't be able to pee because I can't sit on the potty. And I won't be able to eat because the food goes in my mouth and through my stomach and down to my bum. And I won't be able to grow up and be a mommy and have kids because it will hurt when the baby comes out. Yes, it will probably hurt when the baby comes out, but not because I poked you in the bum with my keys.

Musical Beds and MMR

Anyone else play musical beds at night? Last night, Libby ended up in our bed, then crowded Jared out so he went to her bed and I was in Piper's room rocking her for hours.

Why? Piper got those blasted MMR immunizations on Tuesday. She hasn't gotten sick yet (though I noticed a measles rash forming today), but is no longer sleeping through the night. On Wednesday, she had her worst ever tantrum...screaming (not crying) for nearly an hour, scooting on her back around the room, bumping her head into the wall, kicking her crib, and refusing to be touched or held. The same thing happened to Libby when she got the MMR shot: cranky as can be and suddenly quit sleeping through the night. Libby also got a measles rash and fever, so that certainly accounted for some of the sleep and mood problems.

I don't subscribe to the MMR-autism link, but from my own experience (a whopping sample size of 2), my kids do act like a different person after that shot. Libby was back to herself after about a month. I pray it does not take that long for Piper, especially because we are moving soon and I'd really like to start sleeping again.

But it does make me wonder about the parents of autistic children who say their kid woke up a different person. That may be entirely true and maybe some of the symptoms of MMR shot even look like some of the symptoms of autism, but how do you know where one ends and the other begins? Could a child have a bad reaction to the shot like mine did and during or after the recovery of that, happen to develop symptoms of autism? Without the two being related? I don't know. I do sympathize with those parents and no matter the scientific truth about a link or not, I believe their experiences are real. I obviously don't have the answers nor the mental clarity at the moment to say anything else on the matter. I mostly just wanted to record my experience with Piper so I can remember for future reference if I am lucky enough to have another kid and unlucky enough to go through MMR inferno again.

2013 in review

For almost a year, I've been keeping a one-line-a-day journal. It has been awesome. It's the perfect way for me to feel like I'm documenting my kids' childhoods without really being very much work. But I do want to keep track of pictures, too and I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like. So I am blatantly stealing this idea from Renae and doing a photographic review of 2013 in roughly chronological order. 

Libby likes being carried. And reading Berenstain Bears. Preferably both at the same time.

Libby enjoying the snow last winter

I love this look of pure joy when we were playing on the bed one day.

Playing with snow inside because it's too cold outside.

I love those lips!

 

She liked to feed Piper.

This picture kills me! She wasn't posing...she was oblivious to the camera. Just happened to catch a cute pose.

 

At Bever Park with friends

The kids helping with some landscaping - we were removing the rocks in the flowerbeds

Bathtime!

Just a cute picture...something in her mouth, I think.

Libby just took off walking with her "dump truck" one day, so I followed her all the way around the block.

We painted our shutters blue (don't have a before picture). And yes, Libby is hitting Piper on the head with a broom.

I tried taking pictures of the moon when it was really close to the earth this summer, but it was pretty hard without a tripod.

But these stones in our front yard did reflect the moon's light beautifully!

At Thomas Park

At Thomas Park, one of our favorites.

We went for many, many, many walks with Piper on my back just like this.

Going for a walk around Gill Park

Libby playing at Gill Park with her friend  Nash who was only here for the summer. Sad, because they were pretty much made for each other with their matching red balance bikes. That's a corn field in the background.

Libby went through a phase of really liking to take pictures of me and Piper.

She chose the outfit!

After work one day this summer.

I put streamers on Libby's door for her birthday. These were the only colors I had...not too pretty, but the idea was still fun.

We had lemon blueberry breakfast cake for Libby's birthday. Why wait all day when you can make a "breakfast" cake and have it in the morning?

She wanted to eat her toast first.

Libby is 3 years old and 3 feet tall

Libby wearing Dad's headphones to watch TV. If we talk too loud in the room while she's watching something, she says, "I can't hear like that!"

I like to put them in semi-matching clothes whenever possible.

Piper's homemade giraffe costume and Libby's borrowed giraffe costume

Libby still loves taking pictures of me. Piper still loves grabbing my shirt.

Libby has organized her animals into families. Here is "Piper baby's family." From left to right: Pooh bear (daddy), Mommy baby (mommy), Piper baby, Lion (grandpa), Pink Bear (grandma), Blue Baby (brother), Christmas dog (Piper's baby's friend and Blue Baby's best friend). There are more cousins and friends that are not pictured.

Piper - 15 months

At 15 months, Piper is relentlessly active. She still loves being cuddled and held, of course, but she is curious and adventurous and a little bit dangerous. I'm not sure how much you can really tell about a person's eventual personality by their toddlerhood antics, but if I had to make a guess, I'd say Libby is going to be my cautious critical thinker and Piper is going to be my fun-loving go-getter. (Both are great.) Piper just keeps charming people left and right with her adorable smile and has little to no fear of running away from me in public. She doesn't necessarily like for strangers to pick her up (she will allow it if she's in a good mood), but she will follow them all over the place.

A few more of Piper's habits/characteristics:

She loves putting things in the trash can. Any trash can, really, but especially the one under the kitchen sink. Just in the past couple of days, she has tried to throw away Jared's iphone case, several legos, a bowl, and an uneaten apple. I hate to think of what she has thrown away without me catching it. But her attitude of helpfulness is appreciated.

She is crazy about dogs. Whenever she hears a dog bark, she points to or races toward the window, squealing "dog! dog!" Usually we can't see them because of trees/fences, but when we do, she gets even more excited.

She usually sleeps with a small cat, a small dog, a white crochet blanket, and a few board books. She likes to be holding all of these things while I nurse her in the rocking chair before bed. After that, I tell her to go put her animals and things in her bed. I either carry her over or she walks over and enthusiastically throws them in. More often than not, she will get into bed happily after this routine. And unless she is sick, she is almost always sleeping through the night now. (Please don't let me jinx myself by saying that.)

She is obsessed with silverware, mostly spoons. Now that she can push kitchen chairs around to get into the silverware drawer, I can't keep her out of it. She climbs onto the kitchen table about 10 times a day, too.

She says mom, dad, dog, cat, uh-oh, drink, cheese and a few animal sounds (moo, meow, ruff). She understands so much, it blows my mind.

She is learning to get dressed. She puts her arms in sleeves, she tries to put on socks, and she is great at putting on boots. She will stick her legs in her pants if I hold them out for her.

She takes a lot of abuse from Libby, although I know Libby loves her. Piper just needs to get a little stronger so she can wrestle Libby right back. :)

Piper - 13.5 months

Actually, Piper is more like 13.75 months, so I may as well wait until 14 months, but I can't bring myself to skip a month.

Piper is walking, running, climbing (we found her on top of the desk, playing with the keyboard!), moving furniture to get what she wants (we have a kids table and chairs and she moved the little chair to the kitchen counter so she could reach something...too smart!).

She is constantly getting into the kitchen cupboards and rearranging my canned goods, so I've completely given up on organizing them. She is particularly fond of tomato paste (must be the smaller size she likes) and carries it around sometimes. But her favorite drawer in the kitchen is the silverware drawer, which she can't reach, but will dangerously lunge for while she is being held.

She absolutely must have a spoon or fork in her hand to eat anything, even crackers or bread, or things that don't require utensils. She actually is pretty good at using spoons, too. She can pretty much eat a bowl of cereal by herself, though she needs some supervision when it comes time to lift the bowl and drink the milk. She's ended up with a lapful of milk many times.

She can say: dad, mom, stop, uh-oh, dog, cat.

She can sign "dog" (which is done by patting your hand on your leg, as if you're calling a dog) but she usually pats her stomach. Actually, when I first taught her that sign, she would pat MY leg to sign it. She sometimes signs "more."

She still nurses anywhere from 2-5 times per day. I'm telling you, nursing is the best tantrum-tamer ever.

She gets manhandled by Libby on a daily basis, so I guarantee that even without older brothers, she's going to grow up to be a tough girl.