Six Days without blogging...Wow!

Wow! That's a first for me. I guess I must be really busy because I love to blog. I always have--just in the old days it was journaling and not everyone could read it. I have been wanting to put some pictures up, but have experienced some technical difficulties so I just think I'll catch up on what's been happening the last week.

Lane has cut 4 teeth in the last 3 weeks. He got his bottom two teeth at about 5 months. I was afraid he was going to have a full mouth like Porter. He didn't start until 3 weeks ago and then he's gone crazy! He is growing by the day and I love watching every minute of it. He is so sweet and joyful. He does have a bit of a temper when he gets ticked. He is now sleeping through the night--kind of. He goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at 4 a.m. He will eat and go right back to sleep for a couple more hours. I consider myself to be getting a pretty long leg of sleep in there so I can't complain. I think his waking time coincides with Brant getting up at 4 a.m.

Madison and Porter are a happy little twosome these days. Grandma and Grandpa have been putting a garden in the back yard. They are right there with them. They love the outdoors. Grandma Smith helped them plant pansies and they were so proud of them. Madi and Porter play non-stop. Madison is still very motherly and mimics me in my "mom voice." She gets her hands on her hips and purses her lips. Aaahh or ugh! I'm not sure which to say at the reflection of yourself in a "Mini-me." Her favorite copycat phrase is to come into a room where were at; put her hands on her hips; then say, "What's going on in here?" It's a question loaded with the intonation that someone is doing something they shouldn't be doing.

Grandpa John Hibbard came to visit for a couple of days last week. We picked him up from the airport and took the kids to the mall while Brant was still at work. It was a lot of effort! I don't know how anyone makes regular trips to the mall with three kids. They are actually pretty good and listen at an okay level. They're potty-trained, which is nice, but sometimes I just want to put a diaper on them when we go out.

The twins are in that phase where they're not always tired enough to take a nap, but they get too tired and cranky at the end of the day when they don't have one.

They are learning the days of the week. They know them by "Family Night," "Pizza Day," "Park Day," and "Church Day." They sure get excited over the littlest things. It makes me try to be more grateful for the simple things. They love going out with Dad. Porter always goes up to Brant and says, "Dad, I want to play with you."

Brant taught Lane a mean little trick--to pinch his feeding orifice after he is done nursing. It's not nice. And, with Brant's laughter and encouragement, he continues to do it throughout the day. As if to signal he's done.

I made a mistake

Last night Lane woke up crying about this time--1 in the morning. I felt bad for him so I fed him and put him back to bed. You're not supposed to do that. You know, give in to your kids. Now I'm paying for it. He woke up again tonight and he's been crying for about 40 minutes now. They (the researchers) claim that if you give in you just taught them that there is a possibility that you will pick them up. So, I'm waiting him out tonight. It's totally my fault. Why do they do that to you? It's so hard not to give kids everything they want. I guess it's a good lesson for me to learn.

I Want That!

I took the twins to Walmart today while Lane was taking a nap. (Grandma watched him.) We were having a leisurely stroll up and down aisles. Madison kept saying, "I want that! I want that!" I kept telling her no. Finally, I said, "Madison, I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but you cannot have everything you want." No comment from her.

I continued, "Did you already know you cannot have everything that you want or did you just find out?"

Quietly and disappointed she said, "I just found out."

Cute kids don't always equal cute pictures

I was going to take some cute pictures of the kids outside today. I thought it would be fun to get all three of the dressed and have a group shot. I started with Madison--doing her hair and getting her outfit on. I even put a little makeup on to cover up her bruise. She looked so cute. (BTW Bobbi--thanks for the super cute haircut you gave her.) I got Porter dressed next and then Lane. Shortly after we all went downstairs. Porter was hiding in a corner eating a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos.

The orange stain was all over his face, hands, and clean shirt. I was so mad. So I decided to take pictures of Madison. I threw Porter's shirt in the wash. Since I had Lane dressed I thought I would take pictures of them individually. While I was taking pictures of Madison, Lane crawled over to a dirt pile. When I found him, he had it in his hair, mouth, shirt, shorts, and socks. One shoe was off. I finally resigned to take these few shots of the twins after Porter's shirt was dry.

Madi falls down the stairs...or was she pushed?

I was in the kids room cleaning, when I heard this thump, thump, bang--breath-held scream. Porter and Madison had been playing on the stairs with their matchbox cars. I rushed to help her. Her nose was just barely bleeding and she was crying so hard she almost couldn't breathe. She managed to say she wanted her blankie and she wanted to lay in Daddy's bed. (I guess it's not my bed.) After I FINALLY got her calmed down I asked how she fell. I suggested, "Did you slip on one of the cars?" She said, "No, Porter pushed me!" I said, "Just a minute. Let me go talk to Porter."

Porter was now at the bottom of the stairs playing quietly. I said, "Porter, did you push Madison down the stairs?" He said, "Yes." I could not believe it. At least he hasn't started lying about his what he does. I guess they were fighting over a car and he pushed her away. So hopefully he doesn't have a serial killer mind and didn't do it on purpose like someone he is related to.

When I pushed Dona it was totally HER fault. She's the one that stuck her bum in the air while she was leaning over the bunk bed. ANYONE would have had a hard time resisting the temptation to push Dona off the bed. Despite my own wretched past, Porter got in trouble--or "way bad trouble" as he says.

More St. George pics

These are a little late. I've had some trouble with my camera card. The twins had so much fun with Sam. They are still talking about him. Porter really liked having a boy around.

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.