Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Olive and Elijah update.


It's been awhile since a did an update with my kids and they are growing up so fast and changing everyday so I better stop time for one second and record all the little wonderful things I get to witness everyday. 






Here is my little Olive as she is right now. Each day she says a new little phrase that makes me laugh and wonder, "where did you hear that?" Although most the time I can hear myself parroting back. As you can see she still loves dinosaurs. We went to a little Provo birthday celebration and Olive got her face painted with this little dinosaur and got to have a something made from a balloon. When she reached the front of the line the man asked Olive "now what would you like, a pretty princess crown?" Olive exclaimed "No! I want a dinosaur!" She got what she wanted. Each day her relations with our brother get better, but she still has a hard time when he touches or grabs certain things of hers. We are working on it. I have always had little things that I have said to tease her like "I'm going to kiss your face off!" and recently she doesn't like them so much and will say to me "Don't say that again or I will put you in time out." haha I am trying to stop, but I really do want to kiss her face off! She doesn't get put in time out very often, so when she does it is VERY dramatic and seared in her memory. Yesterday she asked for the first time if she could play with a friend that day. I guess she is growing up. I love it and hate it at the same time. I can't imagine not having this spirit in my home anymore, but I can't wait to see her grow and spread her wings and find all the things that bring her joy in her life. For a while she has been doing this thing where she has to stack all her books in big piles by her bed. I tried to put them back on the bookshelf once. That did not go well. She picks two or three books before bed and absolutely insists on turning each page, and it doesn't really matter how short the book is these days because Olive will dissect every little thing on the page and so it takes an hour to read one book no matter what. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes I am on the verge of "freaking out" as Olive (and I) put it. She loves it when I play dinosaurs with her and color in her coloring books with her. I love hearing her play with her toys and the conversations they have with one another. Lots of times they are falling off things and getting saved. She is great at make pretend and is constantly turning certain things into "mud" that we have to get out of to not get stuck. We are always being chased by sharks or T-rex all the sudden and then we have to find refuge. She always finds something interesting in inanimate objects, like in the winter we stepped outside and saw a big patch of snow and she said "hey mom, that's a t-rex!" And it really did look like one! She will also take little bites of her food and proclaim them to be boats or the moon, or whatever she decides the food looks likes. She has recently been learning to ride her bike and loves to ride with me around the neighborhood or to the park. She is always racing with everything she does and proclaims that she has beat me no matter what. If I beat her things don't go over well. She loves to go to her Grandma's or a friends house, but she would still always rather be with me if I will play and spend time with her. She gets easily distracted and will sometimes start to talk to me and her brain will wander and she will say "Mom was I going to say?" As her mom I can always answer that question. "You were asking for milk Olive." "Oh yes mom, can I have milk?" Sometimes it gets hard when she can't remember things because she isn't paying attention and I can get really frustrated, but I try to be patient. Sometimes I think I am doing a great job, sometimes I think I am failing miserably. When I feel that way I remember that I love this little girl more than anything and that if I keep giving her that love everything will work itself out in the end. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I tell myself. I feel so lucky to have this little girl in my life, so I'm trying my best to guide, nurture, and help her see her self worth. 
I love you Olive. 








Oh my little Elijah, each day I fall more and more in love with you. These pictures show your little rascally personality and I just love it. It's interesting to raise one child and that's all you know and then when you have another you say oh, that's you, you are so different. You always wonder how much of it is nature or nurture. For example this little guy is more of a bully than Olive. If he sees a little kid he will sometimes walk up and push them or get mad if he sees they are playing with a toy that he wants or going down the slide he wants to go down and he will yell and hit. Olive was the opposite, always giving toys to other kids and confused when a kid took something, but our world revolved around her and she got whatever she wanted and so she didn't really need to be possessive and really didn't even know what it meant to have something be "hers." Everything was hers. Don't worry, she is more than making up for that possessiveness now that she has a little brother. And poor Elijah always has to be fighting to get or keep a toy and so I think that fight is getting more engrained in him at a young age. He is a lot pickier than Olive was (and is) and I think that is a result of both nature and nurture because with Olive we could control everything that went into her mouth for so long, but with Elijah he sees what Olive is eating and he wants that and so he was exposed to sweeter flavors at an earlier age. We still try really hard with him, and sometimes he will give in if he has no other option or if I shove it in his mouth so he can see it's not that bad after all, but sometimes he just spits it right back out at me. I still tell myself it's worth it for the few times he keeps it in and gets exposed to flavors and eats something healthy. If he sees anything else he wants in the near vicinity he will refuse to eat whatever it is you are trying to give him. I got him to eat a soup the other day with carrot, beans, zucchini, avocado, and corn but the next day when I tried to give it to him and he saw his dad eating a bagel, game over. *sigh* We will keep working on it. Smoothies have been an essential way of getting him to have some greens. He is late talking just like Olive was and still doesn't really say anything except for Mamma and some animal noises. He is pretty good at doing signs, but I always forget to keep doing them after I teach him and so then we kind of lose them. If I remind him he will sign more, all done, bath, dad, book, shoes, outside, car, elephant and ball. He is working on some others but some of the signs are so hard for little hands. Sometimes I can tell he is doing a sign because his hands are moving in a purposeful motion, but I can't figure out the sign. It took me a while to figure out his sign for Dad, but he was doing it every time he saw KC so we finally figured out that is what he was signing. It's hard for babies to do signs on their face where they can't see their hands. Olive had a hard time with that too, and still does. I have to keep reminding myself to do them since it is such a good way of communicating with him. He is very attached to his Mom right now and will often turn his head in disgust at the idea of someone else taking him. He went through a really fussy stage a bit back and I noticed his teeth were cutting through and I had hoped that was what was causing it so I didn't have to have this fussy baby for always, luckily that was the problem and he is much happier baby these days. He loves balls and I have learned to bring one with me everywhere or else he will try to steal others kids, and sometimes he still tries to steal other kids. He is a really good dribbler, he was playing in our driveway and I watched him follow the ball so well and keep with it. I thought wow, he is better than Olive! He continues to do that at the park when we go to play. He is also begging me to take him down the slide 50 million times. We do a lot of "family slides" with all three of us. He is starting to get to that stage where he gets attached to things and I got him this panda bear at Ikea and he asks to have it in his bed with him, along with other various toys and sometimes a book. I love the little smile he gets on his face when I hand it to him, and he pulls it in close to face and snuggles it. He loves to read and point to things and have me say them over and over again or sign the word. I know all the books he loves and he especially loves the Dinosaur Roar book. He is starting to do some animal noises, his favorite is to moo like a cow. I take Olive and Elijah lots of places and I am always having to chase Elijah around, once his feet touch the ground he is off in all directions. Poor Olive has to stop and wait while I run after him, we try to make it work the best we can. He fell and scraped his face bad on the pavement a few weeks ago and it has finally healed but he may have a little scar on his forehead, and few days ago he burned his hands really bad on a door panel that had heated up in the sun. He screamed for hours and it was so sad and hard and had me in tears trying to relieve the pain. He is getting better now. He went through a big stage of throwing things in garbage and we think he may have thrown away KC's wallet and passport. He isn't doing it as much anymore but I still catch him occasionally throwing toys away. Little rascal. He loves to play with dinosaurs like his big sister and is always dragging them around and making them "roar." He also loves to go through all of Olive's books, much to her chagrin. I am looking forward to the day when I can read them bedtime stories together, for now that is just not possible. He loves to play outside in the backyard in a little red car a neighbor gave us, and he is always trying to escape every time the front door opens and make a break down the sidewalk. Elijah and Olive seem to run everywhere they go in the house and I love the pitter patter of their little feet running up and down the hallway. I love any one on one time I get to spend with each them. Each day we seem to get closer to a stage where they can happily play together, hopefully. Little Elijah you are the perfect addition to our family. You add so much spunk and personality and I just love you to pieces. I love your hugs and the way you put your arms around my neck and cling to me. That will never ever get old. I know this attachment stage doesn't last long, and while sometimes it's hard, I wouldn't change it for anything. I love these little babies running into my arms for safety, security, and love. I love you Elijah.



Tuesday, April 12, 2016

January-March
(Picture Overload.)





Over the holidays we had all been so sick and we just needed to get out of the house. 
Curiosity Museum was just the break we needed.




Documenting rare moments where they get along for 2 seconds.




Rock Canyon, before Elijah discovered he could throw rocks off the cliff and I could actually get him to walk somewhere.





Teamwork for these two. Building a dinosaur.



Bean Museum.





This was soaking our entire bathroom but I couldn't bring myself to stop it.





Copilots.




Play Bill. 
One of the best shows I have ever seen. A marionette show of sound of music from the most renowned puppeteers.





My heart.




Alice in Wonderland ballet. 
We took cute little Amelia along with us.





Olive "skis" 2016.




Grandma and Grandpa.






Best Friends.





Tour of the Lehi Natural History Museum.





Special Treats after our library visit. 
We will try all the new bakeries, thanks Mom.





A "we were here" picture after touring the provo temple.






Decorating cookies and making valentines. 
Olive would get such a high when I pulled out the sprinkles, her cookies were more sprinkles than cookie. 





Olive has THE BEST sunbeams teacher. 
Look at this adorable tea party!!! 
Olive loved it.





Neon lights imitating our feelings.





Then I made KC does this while the dog watched and Olive cheered us on from the couch in the back round.







Girlfriend Ski at Sundance. 
This girl can ski, she doesn't mess around.






Callie's princess birthday party. 
It only took an hour to get that thing to open.






Our Yearly Ski Day.
 We had some good chats on the ski lift.





Boys and their toys. 






We call this the "secret path" up at rock canyon.





Happiness is here.





I have to entertain this guy while Olive is in Preschool time at the library. 
He ditches story time right after they quit singing, sometimes I can get him to come back for the puppet show. If I'm lucky.






Olive took a tumbling class. It was so cute.





Crazies at the Zoo.





Frozen on ice with cousins.






Chasing these two everywhere we go.





Paddle board yoga in the Crater.





Providing and serving food at this shelter in honor of Bryant.
It was a great experience.






Throwing rocks and sticks.






It's hard for me to stop Olive from doing things that I secretly want to do myself.







Teaching this little how to climb.





Elijah was having a hard time this week and was crying and fussing all the time. He had some teeth cutting through. Those types of days feel like they will never end. I remember snapping this picture and thinking this may be the only time he had smiled that whole week! It only lasted a second. Those scratches on his face are from a face plant running at the park.






This photo embodies childhood to me. 
I was teaching Olive how to ride her bike.






Dance party for a friend's birthday.






This day was full of GREEN GREEN GREEN. It was pretty fun.






Hiked the Y for the first time in I don't know how long! Elijah was good on the way up, but screamed the entire way down.... so that was fun haha. It actually really was fun though.






Easter Egg Hunt for these littles. 
I let Olive color some eggs with markers and she loved that.
She dyed some with her grandma so I decided to skip the mess, which is a little unlike me :) 
Easter snuck up on us this year in March and I didn't like it! I need more time to enjoy all the cute little eggs scattered around my house. I may or may not still have my knitted eggs up on my piano, I just can't take them down! They are so cute!






In these moments I love her the most.







This kid can dribble a ball better than his older sister! 
I am starting to bring a ball with me everywhere I go, he loves them so.










On Bryant's birthday we went down to Utah Lake and let off some lanterns. It was beautiful and a really cool experience. Elijah immediately started to run straight for the water and would have just kept going right on in had I not caught him last minute. 

I love this last picture of Bryant's friend Jesse letting off a lantern filled with notes and love. There was such emotion and intention. 
Bryant you are missed.





I snapped this picture of Elijah at the Zoo to document the one single moment he stopped moving the whole day! I spent most my time chasing him around, the little bugger.






I took Olive along on a Mutual Activity ice skating. She was so unsure when she first got on the ice and I thought she was going to quit after only a few minutes, but I was slowly able to get her more and more comfortable until she was running around by herself with the help of this walker and even venturing out on the ice without it a few times. 







My sister and I realized we had never tried the "duck face." 
We still don't get why people do it haha. 
This was the most fun day, my sister is so funny and adventurous she keeps you laughing every second you are with her.







More drone chasing.
All parties involved enjoy this immensely.