A Much Needed Weekend...

My mom spent a few of her teenage years living on the island of Samoa while my grandpa was mission president there. This week they're having a reunion in Utah and so my mom flew out. She and Becca decided to spend the weekend up in Rexburg before the actual reunion. Bless them for coming because Ben and I really needed a break after two months of chaos!

My Whale relatives came up to Rexburg to check out BYU-Idaho as a potential college for my cousin Shannon. So we were able to visit them and eat some ice cream (we Whales lllooooooovveee ice cream!) It awesome to see them again and for anyone who is considering coming to BYU-Idaho you should do it! It's the best place ever!!!! I don't think I've ever had such an amazing experience (besides ones with family) than being a part of this school!

We were able to go on a lunch date on Saturday. We hit some AWESOME sales in Idaho Falls and then went out to lunch. It was so nice to be baby-less for a couple of hours. After we got back from our date we went to visit our friend Miss Amanda, who just had a baby. Ben grew up in Rexburg and Amanda is his best friend's little sister making her Ben's little sister (which is funny to think about because she's a year older than me.......) so we were able to visit her and little Noah (pictured above. Noah's the tan one obviously. Poor Sky got his paleness from me. Sorry Amanda. I totally forgot to take my camera on Saturday and so I stole this from Facebook....) If you remember a year ago Ben made me a changing table when I had Lily. Well when we found out Amanda was expecting a baby I suggested that Ben make one for her as well and here it is! It looks awesome! (Sorry, I also stole these from facebook...)

Daddy/Bud time

His eyes are cracked a little in this pic but he was seriously unconcious as I held him dangling.... crazy boy.

After our visit my mom, Becca, and I were able to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast together, which was awesome! They left after church and when we came home both of the babies fell asleep at the same time, so Ben and I just looked at each other and ran to bed to take naps. Miracle of miracles I was able to sleep for 3 hours! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!?! Anyway then we spent the evening with some friends. It was a pretty amazing weekend. And we really needed it.

Lily has always made me kiss her hands and fingers. She would always just hold up a finger while I would give her a bottle and I would just kiss it the whole time she was drinking. As you see from this movie she still hasn't outgrown it (which we don't mind at all!) In fact, this morning she made me kiss her peanut butter covered hands. At least peanut butter tastes good! Here's a movie of her trying it with Becca but getting a little impatient.... if you listen closely you can hear the broadcast in the background. I promise we were listening! It was just too funny when Lily started messing around with Becca!

Just Call Me Lil' Mama

A package came today. There's just something special about getting something in the mail that's not a bill or an unwanted ad. Heck, when I have to order something online I even click the box to have it wrapped (if it's free) just so I get the exhileration of opening a present! (And that's only the begining of my weirdness...) I have to admit I don't order stuff online very much but I will if there's an awesome online sale. So Old Navy has AWESOME sales. When their baby stuff goes on sale a lot of the time it's cheaper than buying stuff at Wal-Mart so I splurge on a few things like winter coats. This year I decided to get Lily some boots she could wear everywhere (including in the snow). Sigh. I love these boots. They kind of look like cowboy boots, kind of look like snow boots, and have these cute bows on them. Oh how I love girly things. Here she is modeling them for me:

So here's a story about her high chair. Let me first give a shout out and thanks to April for having twins (meaning double of everything) and giving us a ton of her extra stuff! She gave us this attachable high chair and it has been a total lifesaver. Our apartment doesn't really have a place for a normal high chair so this one is AWESOME! However, Lily manages to make awesome things props in her quest to kill herself. That's right, you heard what I said. The other day I was doing dishes while she was eating her dinner. One moment I looked at her and she was eating away. I turned back to the dishes. Maybe 30 seconds later I glanced at her again. Holy cow. She's not in her chair anymore! Instead she's sitting on top of the counter with a box of nails in one hand and Germ-X in the other! This is only one thing on a list of things Lily has done that has just about killed her. All I have to say is I now belive in angels more than ever!!!

Sorry there's no picture of Sky. But I do have a story about him as well. I will skip the telling of this week's explosive diaper that was so full we had to change him in the tub and will go on to another story. :) So Sky isn't the happiest little guy in the world. For a while we have been debating over whether he has Colic or not. So when he starts getting the blues I try everything in my mommy's book of secrets to calm him down. Nothing has seemed to work for this little guy. But now I know his secret. He's a sucker for his mom rapping. That's right. I have tried EVERYTHING!!!! And now I know that he likes it when I rap to him. His favorite song is Live Your Life by T.I. Don't worry I never sing anything bad. Besides Ben can testify that I never remember the words to songs and I always just sing, "something something something something." But when I sing this song a huge grin just spreads across his face and he is happy as long as I'm acting all "gangsta." I'm starting to wonder if he already has a sense of humor and he wants to take advantage of this as long as possible..... thank goodness he won't have memories of this when he's older. The things you do for your kids....


Side story about Ben: I'm so used to being pregnant that I still haven't gotten used to the non-pregnant me yet. In fact I still automatically hug Ben sideways since I was always too big to hug him the normal way. Well, the other day Ben started drumming on my stomach and my instant response was, "don't do it any harder! You could hurt the baby!" You should have seen his eyes pop. PRICELESS!

For My Impatient Sisters.....

If any of you have ever heard me talk to my sisters on the phone, or if you happen to read the comments on my blog you'll notice that my sisters tend to request pictures of the babes a lot. I can't help it that I have adorable babies and that their aunts love them..... so I guess I'll have to get better at posting pictures. My apologies....

Only the best picture ever of Sky!

Lily is feeding herself with a spoon now... guess it's time to pull out the bibs again... sigh.

I've been waiting for this! Pigtails!!!

I promise I'll try to get better at taking and posting pictures... in the meantime enjoy these!

New Moon Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs79_5n848Q

New Moon is my least favorite of the four books but I have to admit that I'm pretty excited to see the movie now.

And the Golden Pacifier Award goes to........

When I had Lily I had complications that wouldn't allow me to nurse her for very long. So by the time I was getting back into church-mode I wasn't nursing her too much so I never made a visit to the mother's room at church. I've had similar complications after having Sky but I've been able to work through them and so I've been nursing him at church. WOW. What an experience this has been! I didn't think a mother's room would be anything too special but now I know otherwise. I think they should rename it the "Supermom's Den." As I sit in the super-comfy rocking chairs (which I think they should let me roll to every class) I listen to the other supermoms talk about their experiences.

This one younger mom who has three "oh so sweet" children is living on her own for 6ish months while her husband works across the country (how on earth can women do that???? I feel like such a wimp without Ben). She talked about how hard it is being mommy by herself and shared one of her experiences:

One day she was talking on the phone with her mom when she noticed that everything was so quiet and calm. Miracle of miracles! She said even her daughter was hugging her leg and being all sweet and cuddly. Then she realized the dreaded truth that all parents know oh so well- silence is not a good sign. Then she looked around and realized that the daughter who was hugging her leg with one hand had a pair of scissors in the other and was cutting long lines up the back of her shirt. She was so shocked she gave her daughter a little smack on the diaper (which was conveniently full of a wet BM) which exploded out the top and got on her, her daughter, and everything around. She quickly took herself to a mommy time out so she could laugh it off instead of crying. Now that deserves a golden pacifier award if you ask me.

I just adore these kind of mommy war stories. I guess it makes me feel like my life is a little more normal than I give myself credit. I read a bunch of blogs and I always put myself down because I'm not doing something as well as they do, or my daughter actually has tantrums when other babies seem to be perfect. So here's the honest truth: I'm a mom who has struggles but at the end of the day (usually once they're asleep) I can tell myself it's all worth it. So the next time Skyler burps up all over me right after I've showered or when Lily "helps" me fold the laundry by scattering it all over the room I'll just remind myself that when I'm an empty-nester there might actually be a day when I wish I could have this for a moment longer. So bring on the spit up.

Lily-isms

You know, Lily can only say a few words but she uses them wisely..... I always knew that my children would be fun as mixtures of me and Ben. Well, I guess I should say fun AND ridiculously crazy. :)

Heather: Lily, do you know how cute you are?
Lily: Yeah.

When I was holding a graham cracker for her:
Heather: Can you say "please?"
Lily: Yeah.

Usually when something's really bothering Lily she'll call, "Mama, Mama, Mama!" Well this happened when I was the evil diaper changer when she had diaper rash she didn't want me to touch. She screamed, "Nannay! Nannay! Nannay!" that's Toddler for "Nanni" aka my mom.

After seeing a picture of my dog, Mia:
Heather: Lily, what is this?
Lily: Dog! (now with a "g") Roaaaarrr!!!


I just adore my children. So fun. As for updates with Sky he is 6 weeks old today. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. when he was born and now he's 11 lbs. 9 oz. Good job Bud! He is quite the piggy if I may say so myself......

Caught "graham-handed." And yes, she is biting into TWO at the same time.

My 4th Trimester

I consider myself an easygoing person. OK now that I have two babies, scratch that! I was so focused on getting through my pregnancy (I am not one who enjoys it) that I forgot about the fourth trimester. Let's compare, shall we?

Pregnancy: 3 times up in the night to go to the bathroom. Total = 10ish minutes awake the entire night.

4th Trimester: 3 times up in the night to feed Sky aka night time party animal. Luckilly Ben takes the third feeding. Total = 7 hours awake each night. No joke.


Pregnancy: Eating all day long because I'm NEVER full, yet somehow I feel sick....

4th Trimester: Not being able to eat at all because I'm so busy feeding babies which results in feeling sick.


Pregnancy: Hormones make me cry every now and then.

4th Trimester: Hormones + sleep deprivation makes me cry way more.


Pregnancy: I stay home more than usual because it's hard taking care of a baby and my huge self.

4th Trimester: I am not leaving the house by myself for 6 months (except for church) because there's NO WAY that's possible. Or at least I don't want to try that again.....


I don't want this to seem like a reall "downer" of a post I just want to be able to read this in 10 years and have a sigh of relief that I won't ever have to experience another pregnancy. I am grateful that I've had Skyler and although he isn't getting any better at sleeping through the night I tell myself every day that I'm a month closer to sleep than I was a month ago. I also don't think I've said so many prayers in my life. I think that's the only reason why I'm getting by. I think my mom got it right when she told me that I'm in "survival mode."

On the upside there is a selfish part of the 4th trimester that I love. Two words: weight loss. I only have 5 pounds to go until it's all gone. Then I'll work on the weight that I wasn't able to lose after Lily. When I got pregnant with Lily I weighed the same that I did throughout all of high school and so, needless to say, I am not going to try to lose all of that weight. I have no desire to be a high schooler anymore because I'm a proud mommy of two with battle scars to prove it.

I know what I'm going through is really hard but I'm really trying to see the blessings from all of this. Besides all the love and family blessings I have learned some important things. I never realized how much I should appreciate my parents (and really, all parents). What a tough job! I think it is nothing short of a miracle that anyone can pull this off! I also have such admiration for our Heavenly Father. He has way more kids (I sound super-lame with only two....) and is the perfect example of love, compassion, and mercy. My prayer is that as Ben and I slowly leave survival mode that we'll be awake enough to enjoy this adventure a little more. In the meantime, continue to call us and watch the news to make sure that we're not dead.