Britax giveaway!

Great Britax Frontier 90 giveaway over at http://www.modparent.com! You can't go wrong with installation on these puppies. I want one so bad - tell them I sent you!

http://www.modparent.com/blog/britax-frontier-90-booster-seat-giveaway

Trying to be like Jesus

Grayson participated in his first Primary program the end of September and did an incredible job. He not only learned his part, he memorized a lot of the other Sunbeams' parts as well. He still recites them to me occasionally. It's very endearing.

Anyway, today Grayson was climbing the shelves in the pantry to get into the gum and he accidentally knocked a sealed jar of salsa to the floor, waking the baby and leaving me a giant mess to clean up. I put him in time-out for climbing the shelves while I cleaned up. I then proceeded to gather all the candy and gum from the top shelf to throw away because he's been climbing up those shelves for years and one day he's going to do some serious damage. Apparently that made him pretty angry, so he shut the pantry door and turned off the light, blockading the door so I could not get out. I am obviously stronger than he is (for now) so I shoved open the door and promptly spanked him. I put him back in time-out and fumed about what a snot he is while we both cooled off.

I went in to his room and we talked about why he got spanked. We talked about how he felt when I said I was going to throw away his candy without asking and about how I felt when he locked me in the pantry. We both agreed that it would be better for us to only do nice things to each other from now on. I finished by apologizing for losing my cool and asked him if he'd forgive me for spanking him. He thought for a moment then said, "Yes, Mom, I forgive you." 

I thanked him for forgiving me and asked him if I could have a hug. We hugged tightly for about two seconds when he pulled away and exclaimed, "Mom! It's just like Dillon's part!" I looked confused so he kept talking excitedly: "My part is 'He showed us the way to be baptized.' Dillon's part is 'He forgave who hurt him.' You hurt me, and I forgave you, so I am just like Jesus!"

And he really is. He's a great example of forgiving others instead of holding a grudge, being helpful and kind to everyone, and trying to obey. He is such a loving little man and I am grateful for his sweet example. I love you Grayson!

Facebook killed my blog.

No, we didn't die. Or move. Or fall off the face of the earth. I am done with school and am now a non-working licensed dental hygienist. Josh is still with AGFA. Two boys boss me around all day long and I generally love it, but definitely have my fair share of 'those days'. Grayson is wicked smart, just finished his first year of preschool, and broke his first limb (right tibia) on May 9. He's 110% brilliant, bouncy, and boy and gives me a run for my money every. single. day. It's exhausting being his mother but oh, so fun as well.

I don't want Trevin growing up as the 'second child' even though he is. There have been fewer pictures and videos taken of his first six months of life than of Grayson's first six, and obviously far fewer blog entries. I want to fix that. Today is July 1, 2012 and he's nearly seven months old. He's a very busy, very happy, very sweet baby. He's crawling all over the house and crawled off my bed for the first time this morning (totally not my fault - I was sleeping!). We just returned from his first Lake Powell trip and he was a champ with the heat, the dirt, and the noise. He is so aware and focused on people and things, especially food, and I give him a lot more leeway than I ever did Grayson at this age. He will literally catapult himself out of my arms to get to whatever it is that caught his attention. He's a tough one to contain. Going to be an interesting couple of toddler years.

My goal is to publish one post per week to this blog. I want to share our pictures, Trevin's milestones, the funny things Grayson says on a near-hourly basis. I need Trevin to see he means as much to me as Grayson does. So my plan is to spend 30 minutes per day organizing the bazillion pictures and videos lying around on four different hard drives and turn them in to publishable tidbits about our lives that my children will cherish one day. I might even play a little catch-up and post some pics to fill in the gaps from the last two years as well. Wish me luck!

Gray's life

Working out - December 3, 2010

I've been missing my boys this week - far too much studying and not enough playing 'round these parts. I feel like my stress level has been way above normal since I got my appendix out. Couple it with the normal stresses of finals and the holidays, and I've been no fun to be around. I'm tired. My body aches. I can't shake this head cold. And there's no time to bake. It's horrible.

But I needed to take a sec to post about my sweet Grayson. He will drive me absolutely crazy one moment and the very next he is melting my heart. He is so dang opinionated! He will stumble out of bed in the morning and if he's in a good mood he says, "It's sunny time!" even if it's still dark outside. But if he's grumpy, he says, "It's NOT sunny time Mom!" in a very grumpy voice. If he likes something I say, he takes credit for it, but if he doesn't like it, he'll argue it until I'm chasing him around the house and we're both laughing. If I tell him it's time for a bath and he doesn't want to take one, he'll say, "I told you Mom, it's NOT time for a bath." But if he wants to take one, he says, "I told you Mom, it's time for a bath." It's so freaking adorable and completely maddening at the same time.

When I'm talking to someone and Grayson needs to tell me something he will yell, "Mom, I need talk to you!" even if it's Josh that has my attention. It's cute now, but we're definitely going to have to work on waiting to speak to Mom when she's already engaged in conversation. When I see his poop face, I ask him if he wants to run to the potty so he can get a sticker for his potty chart to earn a car. He yells at me to go away, but when he's finished, he's all smiles and asks me if he can go potty. He'll sit on the toilet for a minute then announce, "I finished!" and there will be nothing in the toilet bowl. I'm not sure he'll ever potty train, and he's almost three years old.

Grayson LOVES candy, especially 'gum candy' which is what he calls chewy candy (taffy, tootsie rolls) versus 'candy' which is hard candy (candy canes, suckers, Nerds). I think he's actually pretty clever for coming up with that. He loves to do happy/sad faces and will ask you to be one or the other hundreds of times in a row. When he wants to 'get you' he wil step back, get down like a football blocker and come full-speed toward you. I actually get kind-of scared that he's going to hurt me! He loves to be chased/scared/thrown around/etc. The greatest latest thing, though, are his prayers. Grayson likes to say his prayers by himself now, without any help, and he does a really good job. He always thanks Heavenly Father for each one of us, for the food (even if we're not sitting down to eat), for our home, and for his footballs and his basketballs. Every once in a while he'll thank God for me twice! He's 100% boy and I love every last little thing about him.

Picture with Lightning McQueen - October 9, 2010

Flashlight nap - October 15, 2010
Remember this? - October 17, 2010
Carving pumpkins - October 22, 2010

DH is my world

I hate that my life revolves around dental hygiene. Grayson fell down at day care last Thursday (eight days ago) and split his chin open on the window well cover. I was stuck in class and got the message an hour later during my lunch. I had ridden the bus down that day and still had three hours of clinic to go, so I called Josh to take him to Instacare. Once again, very lucky Josh now works from home, but I was secretly jealous of him and kinda sad about the whole situation.

I know it's not practical, but I couldn't help but feel like the mom is supposed to be the one taking her kids to the dentist and the ER and things like that. I know it's ridiculous to not be appreciative that not only is my husband able to do it, he's willing, because a lot of people may not get that, but I still felt cheated and useless in a way. However, I recognized the time constraints for me to get there in a timely manner, the lack of true emergency (he did this last Thanksgiving), and the importance of me being in clinic, so I stayed at school and tried not to think about it.

Anyway, what do I do when all is said and done? I post about Gray's accident on my Perio blog for school and not even my own personal blog! Have I gone crazy? Grandmas need to find out about these accidents online! So here I give you Grayson's perio post from last week:

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This morning I told Grayson I was going to come into the office and do my perio blog. He said, "Mom, I need do my perio blog too." except of course he said perio blog really cute and toddler-like. So I thought, yeah, I'll post a pic of my sweet boy's poor mouth. He sat on my lap and watched old Mickey Mouse cartoons on YouTube in one window while I did my post and now that I'm done with it, I told him it's his turn. Of course now he's lost interest, but I still want to do it.

Grayson in the last 1.5 hours: I go Amy's house today? It not nighttime, Mom. I not poopy (he lied). Where Christie car? What this? I make pancakes in fridge (he puts his blocks in small stacks in the fridge and says they're pancakes). That not Cookie, that Elmo! Where Daddy go? -Daddy's working downstairs, honey.- I go work on the 'puter downstairs too (and he marches off all business-like until Josh drags him back upstairs and I get the evil eye for letting him go down there in the first place, heh heh). What this? You're sad, Mom; no, you're happy! I just kidding, Mom. I see the letter O! I need my shoes. Where my frog go? I take a picture for those kids. What this?

It's beyond awesome being a parent, and I totally can't blame Ashley for wanting one. But alla that love just means more heartbreak when you see six stitches in your little boy's chin, a fat lip with a mangled hole in it, and even worse, blood filled tissue underneath his tongue. Definitely something I'd chart on the IO/EO exam.