This Here is Bessie...

...finest road paving machine ever built!

That quote may sound familiar to those of you that have seen the movie Cars WAY too many times. While Nate was out birding with his dad and Jansen, they came across this Bessie look alike. Of course Jansen just loved it and wanted to drive it. If I had been there I'm not sure I would have let him climb into that thing shown in picture 2. It makes me think of a cheap carnival ride that will fold up on you spontaneously or something. No offense Orem Summerfest planners.

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Our Little Churchgoer

This past Sunday I broke the news to Natalie that it was time to return to church. She gave me this look:
Yes, Natalie, I said. It's time. She gradually warmed up to the idea. Thanks to some carefully orchestrated handoffs, I even survived sitting with both kids for a minute while Nate sang in the choir. These are big milestones for me...and maybe next week I will even make it to Relief Society! I really miss it.

Potda and Grandma

We've been so lucky to have so many visitors this month. And we aren't done yet! Nate's dad and stepmom were our latest guests. Jansen can say "Grandma" really well, but he is struggling with "Grandpa." He calls Nate's dad "Potda" which is his form of the word grandpa. And what did he do with Potda? Lots of yucky boy things. Like figure out the spider webby fireplace, catch grasshoppers, and eat hotdogs with sauerkraut! And what do grandmas do? Grandmas hold babies.

Tuesday

Anyone else's kitchen look like this??? A mess! You should see the other half. But sometimes (well, all the time) these two are just more important!

Pancakes and a Princess

Almost every Saturday and Sunday morning Nate, Jansen, and I have pancakes or waffles. Maybe not the healthiest habit, but we love having breakfast together and we love our pancakes and waffles. Jansen can eat as many as I can. After he's finished, he always holds out his hands and says "sticky." At least he's using a fork these days...he used to use his hands and that really was a sticky mess!

And here are a couple videos of the one calling all the shots around the house these days. I think Nate has done over 600 deep knee bends and one walk around the lake by our house (it's 10:30 pm) to get her to go to sleep tonight. Presenting Princess Natalie:

Missing These

I definitely didn't appreciate the mountains enough when I lived in Utah. It wasn't until I moved to Ohio that I realized just how beautiful and amazing they are. Now every time I go home (Utah) I always spend some time just staring and wishing I could somehow take them to Ohio. I LOVE Ohio, but there's just something (actually lots of somethings) about the West that I miss...including (no laughing please): Arctic Circle (mmm....pumpkin shakes), Sonic (slushes!), Teriyaki Sticks (chicken bowls are yummy), etc. I guess we all have those strange things we grew up loving and they kind of become a part of you.

And what would one of my posts be without pictures of my little guy? And with clothes on! It's getting chilly here.

I Had Forgotten...

...what it feels like to hold a warm, tiny newborn in my arms

...what a process it is just to use the bathroom those first few days after having the baby

...how sweet it is to see my husband hold his child

...how heavy my eyelids feel after only 3 hours of sleep all night

...how special it is to kiss her head over and over

...how many diapers a baby goes through in a day

...what a treat it is just to take a shower and be ALONE for a minute

...how much I could love someone I just met

...that deep knee bends usually put 'em to sleep

...how closely I have to look to make sure she's still breathing

...how wonderful babies smell

...what it's like to do everything with one hand

...that all I wear is T-shirts and shorts

...how kind, helpful, and thoughtful people are

...how angelic she looks when she's sleeping

...how frustrating it is to see her so upset and not be able to help her

...how HARD this is

...how absolutely WONDERFUL and WORTH IT this is

I am so thankful to have a new little someone to remind me.

Big Brother

Jansen wanted to lay on the floor with Natalie last night. He somewhat carefully touched her hair, ears, nose, etc. and was really checking out this new addition to his home. His favorite part was letting her ride on his back. He's adjusted really well to having a little sister, but there are definitely some difficult times. Mornings seem to be especially hard for him; he likes to be held right after we get him out of the crib and I am almost always holding a sleeping Natalie or feeding her at that time. He kind of falls apart and it's an ominous beginning to the day, but things always get much better. But I don't think he's ready to let her play with his new trains yet. :)

Timeout

Jansen really made me laugh today. He has been going to timeout a little more often these days and today out of nowhere I heard him say, "timeout" to himself and then he went in his room, shut the door, and proceeded to pretend to cry and be upset. I haven't decided if this means it is working and he gets the idea, or if it's almost a game and now he sends himself to timeout! Either way, I really got a kick out of it.

What a Mom

Look! Can you believe THIS?!

Nate said that since we are feeding my mom and giving her a place to sleep she had to mow the lawn. Alright, for those of you who don't know Nate well enough to know I'm kidding...I am. My mom actually likes to mow the lawn and insisted on doing it. Funny thing, a few minutes into it a thunderstorm rolled in and she had to stop. I think she planned it that way...

Grandma's Here!

Note: I am starting to get a little embarrassed about the number of pictures in which Jansen is not wearing any clothes. Here's the deal: it's hot enough here that bedtime and naps occur in just a diaper and possibly some shorts. And I never see the point in putting a nice shirt on him that will inevitably get syrup, marker, or grape juice on it. But I will admit there is room for improvement on my part. With that said, here are more half naked photos!

My mom got here last night...just in time for the last bit of Jansen's birthday celebrations. Jansen is really into Thomas the Train these days and I have been telling him she was bringing him a "Thomas." He was so excited and I think these pictures tell just how engrossed he was with his new train stuff. Trying to get him to have dinner was a joke so we took turns taking bites over to him while he played.

Apparently the age of 2 brings some manipulating skills. Jansen is already milking my mom for all she's worth and hid between her legs last night while I tried to get him to go to bed. Future grandma and grandpa visitors beware! He knows you think he's cute!

Birthday Boy

I am officially the mother of a 2 year old. So weird. Last night Nate and I decorated the house a little bit so Jansen could wake up to balloons and streamers and have a fun start to the day. He apparently knew we had done this (not really) and was extremely excited because he decided to wake up before 6. The sound of him calling for me that early in the morning just sends chills down my spine. Especially when you had just been up feeding another little one at 4:30. That's how it goes I guess! Alas, the rest of the day was great. He loved all the balloons littered around the house was so excited about his new train set. Natalie also had her first doctor's appt this morning...she is 9 lbs 8 oz now so she's gaining weight well. She LOVES to just cuddle up and sleep on me. She is so sweet.

Weekend Pictures

Some weekend pictures...
My first outing! Just a quick trip to a park...everyone needed some fresh air.

A great way to hide the tummy!

It was SO FUN to have Kami here this weekend. She was so much help. It seemed like she was here for like 2 hours and then left...but it was a WONDERFUL 2 hours!

This morning Jansen told me this was his "airplane waffle." Indeed it is an airplane waffle.

Love Her So Much!

Ugh

And here we have our first ruined outfit. (I think. It's in the wash right now, so we'll see just what Spray N Wash can really do.)

She did feel really bad about it when I showed her what she'd done.

Our Glo Worm

Our second day in the hospital we found out Natalie had jaundice. It's not real bad, but because of something about she and I having non-compatible blood types we are taking some extra precautions. We are using a bili-blanket which is a blanket of lights that we wrap around her tummy to help get her bilirubin levels down. She looks just like a little glo worm! (Do any of you remember those from your childhood toys?) Hopefully we will only have to use it one more day.