Logan, Kayla, Tommy, and the Kitty Cat

Well, I skipped last week so sorry about that.  Sometimes I sit down to write and I'm just not in the mood, like last week. :P

My kids are growing to be so big.  Tommy turns one next Saturday and I can hardly believe where the time went.  I know everyone says that about their kids but honestly, it goes so stinkin' fast.

Tommy has begun the mimicking stage of his life.  He was waking around with a shoe up to his ear and talking as if he had a telephone this evening.  He also has been pretending to brush his hair because Elsy likes to do that to me.  He even brought me his shoes the other day when I was getting ready to go out and he will try to put them on by dropping them on his feet... that would be a cool invention... drop on shoes.  He giggles when I brush his four little teeth and Logan pointed out he has a big gap between his top two teeth like I did when I was little.  He never used to talk much but just in the last week he has really been experimenting with new sounds and it is darling. 

This girl is either a kitty cat or a princess always.  And she speaks in third person when she is a kitty cat:  "The titty tat wants a dwink!" "The titty tat is seepy!" "The titty tat needs to go potty" etc.  Logan says "What is it with little girls and them inevitably becoming cats!?"  I said I don't know because I was a cheetah for quite a while.  I guess it is just fun.  I am loving it a little because she used to whine every night when I left her in her room to go to sleep and now all I have to say is "Goodnight little Kitty Cat!" and she smiles and snuggles in her blankets with a little meow and doesn't whine a bit. 

Elsy loves playing the matching game my mom got her for Christmas.

My friend had a birthday so we took her out to lunch and this awesome Thai restaurant called Bai Tong.  If you live around here you HAVE to go and try their crispy garlic chicken.  Elsy really wanted to get in this golden boat but luckily I convinced her a picture would be more appropriate.

As always, my kids were total tornados and put on a real show for everyone there.  I was on the phone with my sister when I left and I forgot to put shoes on Tommy and a coat for Elsy.  I decided I can't judge other moms anymore when their children are only half dressed in public.

Last week my sister and her family came to visit.  Since we are moving to a little apartment I think they wanted to come again while we still had a spare room and extra sleeping space for the kids.  We went to the Kids Quest Children's Museum and had a ball.  

We took Leisha to Panera because she had never been and that place is like my absolute favorite (Sierra turkey sandwich and cheese broccoli soup all the way!!).  When we left I turned around and Elsy and Ezra were giving each other some cousin love.  They are too cute and are such good friends.

Ezra is about to get potty trained so Elsy showed him the ropes.  We just had him watch once but then later I found them sitting like this.  She kept asking if he could watch... weeeeird.

Leisha and I got to go to IKEA without any kids.  It was so awesome.  We got lots of stuff...

Something about cousins brings out a different side of Elsy.  She plays well with her friends in nursery and play group, but you get her around Ezra or Hannah and she is a crazy, laughy, hyper girly.  These two just would not hold still all weekend.

And of course the danger duo Tommy and Asher.

In other news, Logan has been working so hard on his startup with two other co-founders, Scott and Johnny.  He has been up late all week working on design, financing, etc.  I am really proud of him because he has really been pushing himself.  I try my best to support him but I often miss seeing him around.  At the beginning of this year we realized this was going to be a difficult year because the startup is well, starting up!  And that takes time, money, resources, more time, and oh yeah, time. It has been awesome to see how the Lord has pointed us in the directions we should go as we make big and even little decisions.  Logan had a strong prompting to meet with someone from our ward and the meeting went really well.  Logan learned a lot from him and they had some really good discussions.  He has also been meeting with another man from the ward who has been helping mentor Logan and the team.  Each week brings new challenges but it also brings more experiences that say, "Yes!  You are on the right track." :)

There is as giant visiting the castle!!  Elsy got this castle for Christmas.  I got it for her because I used to play with a similar one when I was little.  We always have to put it up on the couch for her to play or Tommy just attacks it.  Instead he stands in front of the castle while its on the couch and peeks in the windows.  

Tommy officially has dropped his second nap and therefore gets quite cranky around lunchtime and after dinner because he is staying up longer than normal.  But it has been so nice to not have my day broken into so many chunks.  Now we just have one official nap time where both kids sleep at the same time.  Its a dream.  And we spent a while, two weeks ago, dropping his first night feeding (he has consistently had two night feedings, one at 11:30 and the other around 3:30 for quite a long time).  He now wakes up for a short feeding anywhere between 4-6am and it is awesome!  I haven't slept so long in, well, almost a year!  Because he is almost a year old after all.

This week I got this dresser for $10 at Value Villiage.  I am going to try my hand at sanding, staining, and painting it.  Wish me luck, because I am totally going to need it.

For activity days we did a fun friendship night.  The girls were a hoot as we played a bunch of partner games like feeding each other candy bars tied to a string on a stick back to back, feeding pudding through a nylon, and trying to pop balloons attached to their bums with safety pins taped to their noses.

We had an odd number of girls so I had to sit in on the nylon pudding suck.  Logan said, "Why!?" when I told him about this activity.  I said I don't really know... I just remember doing the same activity when I was in Young Women's and having a total blast.

I went back and found a picture of back then... haha!  Fun stuff.

I also got to go to my good friend McKenna's baby shower.  It was so cute and she got the best stuff.  And the food was to die for.  I have been weening Tommy and it is so nice to be able to go out before bed time and not have to come back in time to nurse him before bed!

On Friday we had a little play date with my friend Camille's little baby Jaxson.  We also had my friend Alyssa over and a little Columbian girl that she babysits, Isabella.  It was so cute watching Elsy and Isabella lead each other around by the hand because neither spoke the other's language.

On Saturday morning I got up at 5:30am to go do a session at the temple for the first time in... dun dun dun 9 months. :(  When I realized how long it had been I couldn't believe it!  It was so nice to go, and my good friend Alyssa braved the early morning hours to come with me.  I was surprised to see another good friend, Janalee, there with her husband.  Janalee and I are on Activity Days together.  She is such a good example to me.  I found out they go every Saturday.  I thought to myself, well now I know I can always maybe see her on Saturday mornings at the temple - since we are moving and I am going to miss everyone!!

It was so great to sit inside the temple after it being so long.  I love the feeling of peace I get when I sit in the chapel before the session starts.  The only word I can use to best describe it is a feeling of safety.  And all I want is for my whole family to be in there with me.  I imagined Elsy in a little white dress sitting by me, and Logan in his white temple clothes... and then I imagined Tommy in a little white outfit too and I realized why he wasn't allowed because when I imagined him there, in my imagination he was yelling, like he always does, and that would ruin the peace and quiet. ;P  But I realized that someday I would love nothing more than to be in the temple with my husband and all my children.  In that moment I know my joy would be full.

It was a totally rainy week and the kids seemed a little cooped up.  Elsy discovered this weird Jungle Book movie on Netflix and always wants to watch it... I basically hate the show but it is funny what kids catch on to.

Since it poured all day on Saturday we had to get creative.  Logan used some of the insulation we use to block out the windows upstairs (for when we watch movies on the projector in the summer but now it gets dark so early we never use it) and taped it to make a tunnel for the kids.  They loved it... can you see Tommy's bum sticking out the bottom?

Sadly, our children are ill this weekend.  Tommy has been getting fussy and then having nasty poops - so I think he has stomach cramps.  And Elsy has been waking up in the night in coughing fits, wheezing, and having a really hard time breathing.  Of what I have read, the closest it sounds like is she may have croup?  If you don't use the Pediatric Advisor Index you should.  My cousin Michelle, who is a pediatrician first showed it to me and then my current pediatrician has pulled it up during visits so its pretty legit.  Anyway, on there it says to sleep in the same room with them if they have croup to better monitor.  So Logan moved Elsy's bed into our room after a particularly scary fit.  And then she slept fine the rest of the night long. - Forehead slap - Oh well.

But then she puked all her breakfast up at the table the next morning.  I thought maybe she gagged on her flem from coughing but tonight she had some nasty diarrhea so I am wondering if she and Tommy have the same stomach bug and then Elsy just has a cough on top?  Poor kids.  Elsy sat on the couch and watched Meet the Mormons and family home videos all day. 

Except the sun came out.  So we went on a nice walk in downtown Redmond on a bike trail.

Here is Elsy, sick but still smiling.  What a trooper!