7 blissful hours of sleep

Lane slept through the night again--10 hours. Porter would not go to sleep last night so I did not get to go to bed until 10 p.m. However, for 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep I will not complain. It feels so good.

Say Goodbye to Sleep Deprivation

I've been sleep training Lane for the last four nights. Last night was the first night he slept for 10 hours without waking up. Aaahh! Heaven! I am one of the biggest "need my sleep" people you can meet. Of course, when my eight hours is up I'm done. I don't oversleep or sleep all day. (I know Mom--when I was a teenager--that was different.)

Lane slept great last night. But did I? No. Madison, who is such a large icon in the universe that even the Sun looks at her, decided to fall out of bed while she was sleeping. Unfortunately, they sleep in a room with wood flooring. There was a loud clunk followed by a scream of terror and shrill crying. She is still cursed with my lack of coordination and falling out of bed just goes with the territory. Brant actually got up with her and put her back in bed. So, I'm not sure if she was terrified she was going to fall out of bed or what. But, she woke up 3 different times and came and crawled into bed with me. At 2 a.m. she was sitting up in my bed, playing with her favorite blanket, talking in her high-pitched little voice. I was afraid she was going to wake Lane up--and he was sleeping so well. I sent her back to bed.

I am greatly looking forward to tonight and hope that I will get my first full night's sleep in over 9 months.

Baby Bling

If you have a little girl or know someone who does--these bracelets are adorable. Not to mention handmade with sterling silver. At $6.99 per bracelet you can't beat the price anywhere. ($2.50 plus shipping and handling.) I bought some of these for Madison when she was a baby and they were very cute. I also ordered a matching set with one for her and one for me. I gave one Mother/daughter set to my sister-in-law when she had her first baby girl. She loved them! Unfortunately, I paid $15 per bracelet! Just wanted to pass on this cute little site. Visit: http://www.babyblingbykim.blogspot.com/

Just stuff

Sometimes there is not anything significant to write. Only small, unimportant things that will be reminders of the days when my children were young.

The kids played out in the backyard for most of the morning today. They love that grass. Lane thinks he's as big as they are, he just can't walk. He's trying to. He stands on his own alot and has a little cart he pushes around. I think he looks like a little old man with a walker. It helps him walk.

Madison has turned into a little prima donna. I don't know where she gets that from. I am going to give credit to her Aunt Kim. It is definitely not from me. Bobbi gave her the cutest little haircut and I think it has gone to her head. Literally. She wants her hair fixed even more now than before. She is disappointed that she can't wear ponytails, but I told her it would grow fast and soon she can have her ponytails back.

On Sunday, she was dressed in a very trendy little pink number that Aunt Vicki bought. She had knee high socks and little miniature black shoes with a small heel on them. She had a hot pink head band to match the dress. I tell you--she was prancing. Into Sacrament meeting she walked down the aisle like she was the Bride. She smiled and waved at people--who are complete strangers to her. When we took her to nursery, she announced "Hi!" with her arms wide open as if to say, "I'm here!" I am really surprised. I thought she would be more introverted. The other day she said, "Mom! The sun is looking at me. Tell it to stop looking at me!" Oh that I had the power. At least she thinks I have that power.

Porter, on the other hand, has surprised me too. I thought he would be the one who was the life of the party. He's very quiet and observant. He doesn't say much. He does like to play with his Dad alot. He loves his Dad so much. He is always asking when Dad is going to be home. He is still very cuddly. Sometimes when he is acting up I realize that I haven't spent "holding" time with him. He's the one that always asks if I'll sleep in his bed. I think his love language is definitely physical. Mine is not, so I have to remind myself to give him that attention. He is also very fond of his little brother. I didn't realize something until Vicki was here. She pointed out some of his behaviour saying it was similiar to Jaden and Sam's relationship. She said Jaden acted jealous of Sam and would be purposely mean to him. I have tried to curb that by telling Porter how much Lane looks up to him and wants to be like him. I have asked for his help with Lane alot. He has done much better, but still has that little mean streak sometimes.

We TRIED to make sugar cookies last night for Family Home Evening. It was such a mess. Our mixer broke and I thought I could mix by hand. The cookies tasted doughy and were not good. I threw them out. Probably for the best anyway. Porter and Madison love to help bake. I try not to get too exasperated with them. They're just having fun and living their life to the fullest. I would do well to do the same.

Aaahhh...getting back into the swing of things

I guess you could call it that. You know how they say there are 20 top stressors in life? I usually have two or three of those going at one time. The move has been a big one. Getting back from St. George was okay. I had so much fun hanging out with my sisters. There's six of us. Thank goodness there weren't more. They all came to St. George to be with me. I was taking out my endowment at the St. George temple. It was an amazing experience. Vicki came the farthest--clear from Alaska. It was so much fun to get to be with her. Sometimes I wish we could re-live just one day from our teenage/college years. We always had fun together.

I have so much more I should write, but don't really have the time. I have started putting myself on a "time budget." I am allocating certain time blocks for different projects. I am way over the cleaning portion of my day. But I just can't stop. I want everything clean. I know I have this problem of "over-cleaning" and I don't get to the other important things in my life. I guess I will have to work on it.

And my favorite little baby

I could watch this little boy all day. He is absolutely adorable and has the sweetest personality to match. He usually falls asleep holding onto something. He loves cars and will push them around forever. He follows Porter and Madison around and doesn't realize he is not as big as they are. It has been fun to fall asleep with a baby. Not a luxury you have with twins. I just adore him. He is a fun little caboose.

MGM Lion Habitat

Brant and I decided to start doing an "outing" once a month for Family Night on Mondays. Our first one was to the Lion Habitat at the MGM. They love the Lion King so we thought it would be fun to show them real lions. All day they were so excited about going when Dad got home. They were really worried about the Lions hurting them so I told them Dad would make sure they were safe. They had a blast, but I think the anticipation was more exciting than the actual event.

Grandpa's fish

This is a common scene as the kids love to watch Grandpa Smith's fish eat. Lane is attracted to the lights and also watches the fish. Madison picked out her outfit. I can't be blamed for that. Porter also picked out his favorite outfit--which is to take off what I put on him. Lane pooped on his pants so his were missing. I try. I really do.

Someone called the Fire Department

This is an interesting little side note to the housing crisis. In Vegas there are so many empty homes due to many factors: foreclosures, abandoned, can't rent in the market, owners live in a different state, etc. For one reason or another, the house directly across from us is supposed to be unoccupied. It's not for rent or sale. It's simple empty. Apparently, (according to all of the neighbors who are very friendly) a squatter has been living there. No one is very happy about it.

He's been kicked out a couple of times, but keeps coming back. They (the friendly neighbors) suspect he is doing crack in the house.

The next door neighbor (of the empty house) decided to call the fire department. He reported that he saw smoke coming from the garage. Firemen are allowed to kick in or go into a home without a warrant. It's a matter of safety. Whereas, police officers are not. The fireman were able to go into the house--though no smoke was apparent by the time they arrived. Upon finding the man and realizing he was no supposed to be living there, they contained him by having him lie face down on the front lawn.

We witnessed everything from the upstairs window of the kids room. During the lull--of the fire men waiting for the police officers a friendly fireman (pictured above) waved the kids down for a tour and free hats. Porter and Madison had a great time going through the fire truck and looking at all of the flashing lights.

Fun in the Back yard

I cannot believe the difference a great backyard makes. The kids have had so much fun being in the backyard. They absolutely love the grass. Even Lane likes to hang out back there. He's stayed out for a couple of hours without getting tired of it. Another great advantage you can't see from the pictures--I have windows that look out to the backyard from every room in the house so I can easily keep an eye on them.

Brant and Porter

This was on Sunday when we were getting ready for church. Brant dressed Porter and was putting his shoes in. They look so cute in their suits and ties.

Back to Blogging

I have been so busy settling in I haven't had much time to blog. A lot has happened in the past week. Thank goodness for cameras so that I can remember everything we did. Here comes a whole lotta postin'!

Settling In

Anyone who has moved knows what it's like to get settled in. Things are starting to come together. The kids absolutely love this new house and I can't get them out of the backyard. It's very nice. Grass everywhere. There are trees that will provide lots of shade in the summer time. Yesterday, all three of them spent about 3-4 hours playing outside. Madison and Porter ate their lunch and a snack in their "picnic" area. They put down a blanket and sat on it to eat. Lane crawled all over. Since it is grass, it's very soft and he likes it.

I bought a pink comforter for Madison's bed. Now she has one. She was using sheets and her favorite blankie. (Yes, she still won't let go of the one my Mom bought before she was born.)

Madison is getting into lip smackers. She carries her pink cotton candy around with her all day. She is very girlie. She insists on picking out her own clothes and getting her ponytails in before we go down for breakfast. She is always moving her head, looking at herself in the mirror when I try to do her hair. I always say, "Madison, hold still! You're driving me nuts!" Today, downstairs she started shaking her head and said, "Look Mom, I'm driving you nuts!" Apparently, she associates the head moving with the saying.

Our new ward

We went to our new ward yesterday. I love that no matter what ward you go to in the church, it feels the same. Brant has promised me that we would get to church early EVERY Sunday. It is a little pet peeve...okay, MAJOR pet peeve of mine to be on time. By the way, I follow this mantra: when you're early you're on time; when you're on time you're late; and when you're late you're lost. We were sitting in the pews at four minutes til. It makes me so happy. I don't know why. It is just a major pleaser for me to be to church on time.

I have also tried this experiment many times over the years. Whenever I am needing answers or help I always pray that I will find an answer in the church meetings. It works every time. Yesterday, I thought about what would be helpful and prayed that Brant would feel the Spirit and his testimony would grow. No sooner had the thought left my mind, than I felt a prompting that I would need to bear my testimony today. Because of all of the people that would speak, Brant would listen to me.

I thought, "No. I don't think you understood my request. I wanted You to do something---not me. I can't get up in front of all these people. I am new in this ward. I don't know anyone."

Again I felt, "It was your request, this is what you need to do." BTW, I just paraphase what I think I am hearing. These are not the real words. I assume you all know that. This reminds of the time I prayed for wisdom and humility. Be careful what you pray for. The Lord will not give it to you, you have to work for it.

Needless to say I was the second person at the pew. I didn't want to wait the whole meeting hyperventilating. Lane started screaming so loud while I was speaking (because he wanted me) that Brant had to get up and leave the meeting. It was a great way for Lane to introduce our family to the ward. Fortunately, the twins sat quietly on the pew listening to me speak. When I went to sit down, they yelled, "Here she comes! She's coming back!" I received applause from them. Then Porter announced, "I have to pee!"

I ran into Brant outside the sacrament meeting when I was taking the twins to the bathroom. While I traded kids with him, he said, "You'll have to tell me what you said, cause I didn't get to hear anything."

I thought to myself, "Great plan Heavenly Father. He didn't even hear me. You made me do that for this!" I kept saying, "I'm sure there is a greater purpose." After the meeting, we were literally mobbed by the people coming up to introduce themselves to us. It was wonderful. Lots of the men went up to Brant and talked to him. I thought, "Wow! Maybe it wasn't what I had to say that was as important as letting people know we were new." I don't know why we have to do some things, but I do believe in the promptings of the Spirit.

Anyway, it seems like a great ward. It is older than our other ward. There is only ONE (instead of three) nurseries. There are not very many babies around. And it has been established for a long time. One woman told me that she was so glad to have a new family move in as it does not happen very often. Our other ward constantly had people coming and going. I really did enjoy the people in the old ward, but know there will be great people in this ward too. BTW, we have a local celebrity in our ward. Kendall Tenney from News 3 attends.

To the middle part of the move now

We are at that part of the move where we have gotten most of the stuff out of the old house and we are working on cleaning it. Today, (hopefully) is the last day we will have to go to the old house. Then...it will be working on getting things put away and organized in the new house. Please, please, please whatever powers that be...don't make me move for at least another two years!