The Rock Church

So over at Kelly's Korner Blog she is doing show us your churches. I have never participated before but I wanted to this time because we have really enjoyed going to our church. We started going to The Rock Church last spring/summer when I was pregnant but stopped going towards the end of my pregnancy. Then we started going again at the beginning of the year and have been going every Sunday since. When we started looking for a church we found a bunch of different options. We found a large church that was really hip with a lot of young people that were our age or 20 somethings. We also found a teeny tiny just started church were we felt like everyone was watching us. And a few others that we were kind of lost in. When we went to The Rock we stepped into a church that was in a rented building (we are trying to get money raised to build) but it wasn't super tiny. They had a rocking worship band which we liked. They have separate rooms for the babies and 2/3 year olds and up. We can drop the kids off and they have a # they assign and we can watch for our number, but also lots of people bring their babies into the service as well, they just step out quietly if the child is making noise. In fact the last 2 Sundays I have had to get Aaron and nurse him and then come back in for the last little bit and the worship song, and he did good both times. (The first time he surprised me because I thought the loud music would bug him, but it didn't) The Rock has 3 different services, a Saturday night service in Salt Lake (downtown) and Sunday morning services 9:30 & 11:15 in Sandy and Provo. We go to the second service in Sandy which is about 20 minutes from us. (Provo is way south about an hour). With the people at The Rock you just feel comfortable to be yourself, you don't have to get dressed up super nice if you don't want, but you can too. You can worship how you want, they also serve coffee and water in the mornings (in Utah that's a big deal). We have gotten plugged in with a small group that meets on alternating Mondays, we are getting to know those people and their kids. I also have joined a play group with other moms that go to The Rock as well and enjoy the mommy bonding time. One of my favorite things about going to The Rock is that Grace absolutely loves church! When we are at the stoplight right before church she yells out, "Church!!!" and points to it. Sometimes she randomly asks me if we are going to church and I will have to tell her no, but we will go on Sunday or Monday night. (Currently our small group is meeting in the church building). Of course it may have something to do with the fact that in her room at church there is a slide, and well if any of you know Grace, you know she loves a slide! Ha! Anyway, if anybody is from Utah or coming here and looking for a church they should try The Rock. I added a link up above to their website! On another wonderful note, it was so nice today!!! It was about 60-65 maybe today and sunny. Daddy and I got the kids, a blanket, some fruit and the jogging stroller and walked to the park. Grace had her little tiny heart so full with fun in the sun today I just don't think it could have gotten any better! She loves loves loves being outside. Today she started a stick collection at the park. Then we walked over to Wendy's and had some lunch before walking home and taking naps. Unfortunately I forgot to sunscreen us up (normal I am a sunscreen nazi) but the kids were covered up with long sleeves and jackets and blankets so I didn't think about it so much. Grace got a little bit of sun on her hands (and really have you ever seen someone get sun on the tops of their hands?) But I don't think it bothers her at all! Then we watched the 3rd Shrek movie and I put Aaron to bed...easily!!!!! Oh and I almost forgot the best news yet!!!! Last night Aaron slept from 1am -8am! Awesome huh! He is loving his barley cereal. He is such a happy little boy, so sweet. Tomorrow its supposed to be highs of 68 degrees, and boy am I loving that! Of course then its supposed to rain and possibly snow on Sunday. I am ok with that though because I need to get back into gear and get ready for shorts and flip flops! I had a GREAT DAY...hope you did too!

What a cutie Wednesday!

I adore these pictures of Aaron, he is just so happy and cute! We had a busy day today. We all woke up late almost 9am! But then it was rush rush rush off to playgroup at 1030, lunch and then groceries and then back home for nap. Aaron slept sooo good for his naps today. He always falls asleep on the way down to play group (its about a 20-25 minute drive) but then wakes up once we get there. Then falls asleep on the way back home. Well today he fell asleep when we left and then was asleep our entire grocery shopping trip and then even stayed asleep in his car seat for about another 40 minutes after we got home! He also slept when we went out to dinner tonight. I had put a whole chicken out to thaw out this morning but it wasn't ready in enough time to cook it for tonight, so we used a coupon and went to Golden Corral. It's like Hometown Buffet and Grace eats free till she is 3! (Which is nice because she can eat at a buffet!) And he went down pretty easily for bedtime. He fussed for daddy and so I brought him back into our room and let him chill for about 15-20 minutes before trying again. Then he went right to sleep! Nice!

I got the house picked up and our bathroom cleaned. It was a busy but good day! In the picture below he is blowing raspberries! He loves to do that now! That or scream! :P

Ok this is my favorite!!! How darn adorable is that little boy????? I mean really??

So we went to Golden Corral and we let Grace pick out a dessert and she picked a cupcake. Her method of eating a cupcake is: Turn Cupcake frosting directly towards your mouth, open mouth, eat frosting without biting the cake part. Smile at your mommy while she takes your picture. Enjoy your chocolate icing goatee...Never finish the cake part.

I took this picture a few weeks ago and sent it to my email from phone like the one above. I haven't been able to retrieve them and so I asked hubby to look at it tonight when I was trying to open and download tonight's picture. He was able to get both pictures for me! Anyway, these are Grace's new glasses.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday already! I need to get back on the treadmill! Daddy has been doing really good getting on after the kids are in bed, and even though I used to do that when I was working, I can't bring myself to do that now. Hopefully now that Aaron is getting to be more happy and I am getting used to his little quirks I will find some morning time in for my workouts again. He is such a funny boy, I was telling my mom tonight about how he gets bored at his "play stations" and wants to be entertained. First I put him in his exersaucer till he starts fussing, then I put him in the pack and play with some toys. Then I try back in the exersaucer. Sometimes Grace can keep him happy there but sometimes she can't either. Mom said to put him in the high chair with some toys since he can sit there now and that is a good idea I can put the chair in the rotation! It's funny how you forget about those things. Oh I forgot to mention that he has been doing good with his barley cereal too! He is a pro eater already! Probably about 9/10's of the cereal gets into his mouth whereas with Grace when she was first learning about 9/10's of cereal was on her chin! (Of course she sure can be an eater now!) It's like he was born to eat cereal! Ha! He slept for 5 hours before waking to nurse at 12am last night, however I was nervous because I had just pumped at 1020pm and wanted to make sure he got enough to sleep more. But he did fine and slept till just about 5am.

Anyway, time to get off the computer and read my book for a little bit.

Princess Grace of Small Group

Aaron and Mommy tonight before dinner.

Last night we had small group and ironically enough found out another reason for titling my post Princess Grace. All the kids in our small group think Grace is just the cats meow. They were playing "Princess Grace" the boys were trying to get Grace and the girls were trying to protect her. LOL! If that doesn't give a 2 year old an ego! Just some cute bath pictures from the other night.

We did give Aaron some barley cereal last night and he did really good. Unfortunately we got home so late from small group and then got caught up with Aunt Crystal who was back from her vacation the kids got put to bed late. So Aaron nursed at 10pm and then slept till 5am. Grace went to bed but woke up at like 1am and was crying hysterically. We pulled her into bed with us, I was so afraid that she was going to wake Aaron and really she almost did. Daddy heard him fussing and sort of shushed him back to sleep with his hand and he stayed asleep. We tried to get her to lay still with us and I was hoping she would fall asleep and then I could put her back to bed, however that did not work. Finally at about 2am she seemed back to herself and I put her back to bed.

Aaron had bad naps today although when I did put him down this morning he went really easily, I think he was just overtired. Actually both kids were and they both went to bed early tonight. He went down pretty good for daddy tonight too! So we hope that the barley cereal works and he sleeps for a long time!

I had my checkup at the dentist today and have a small cavity that needs filling. Grace got to come and watch me getting my teeth cleaned. She did really good, of course it helps that they have a little play house built into the waiting room that she loves.

Oh and I also vacuumed today with our new vacuum! I had to Moby Aaron because he was so fussy, boy did my arm hurt from pushing it! It has some powerful suction, but does a great job. We also got the dog grooming attachment and tried it on Briggs! Easiest way to brush a dog yet, is what the hubby said. I am sure there are pictures I have posted from before of all the dog hair that comes off of Briggs when we give him a really good brushing. So it's nice that all the hair goes directly into the tube.

Well we have play group tomorrow, I can't believe it's already Wednesday! Sunday is Daddy's birthday!

Princess Grace

So Saturday I let Grace wear her princess dress up gown. It was a hand me down and its a little big for her but she loves it. I had a hard time getting her to look at me and smile. But I asked her what was in the pack n play just so I could see her go up on tippy toes. So cute!

What a wild thing!

We also had two ducks land in our yard and pay us a visit. The mommy duck is behind the railing, she is really hard to see.

Here she is peering from our front window at the ducks. We did feed them some left over hamburger buns. I tore a piece off of one and tossed it to the ducks. Then before I could say otherwise Grace reaches her whole hand into the bag and tosses the entire other hamburger bun! LOL! So the birds and the ducks had some bread. They settled in for a rest later and then were gone when we checked back later. But Grace thought they were fun.

This morning we took Grace to the pediatrician. Her ears are fine, she is a little congested but no ear infection, her ears looked great. She got another vaccination and was sad for just a short while before she was ready to run again! Aaron's ears also looked great and we talked about different foods for him. The Dr said we could give him a little bit of yogurt to get some probiotics back in his system, because his BM haven't been as "seedy" as they normally are, which is due to the antibiotics I am sure. Daddy also found Barley cereal today and we will try that.

It has been cold today and after the Dr appointment we came home and had a nice warm fire and played with her puzzles in front of it. She is so smart. She knows a lot of her shapes and can do her Melissa & Doug puzzles easily. She knows, circle, triangle, square, rectangle and ovals.

Aaron went down pretty easily and then was asleep for about 20 minutes before he woke up while I was getting Grace up. I tried to shush him back to sleep, however he was just getting mad mad mad. So I let him cry and he fell back to sleep. He is still asleep now.

Grace and I made Peanut Butter Banana Bread after she got up and its baking now. We have our small group tonight and will probably be back late, so I am taking the time to post now!

I will let you all know how the Barley cereal goes!

Love and Hugs.............

Backyard Fun

So we have been only a little busy this weekend, in a good fun way, and not a crazy hectic way. I think this was Friday night that we were hanging out in the backyard. Grace loves being outside and if you look close you can see she actually has a muddy face. Showing me her stick.

I don't know if you can tell but this is Grace's throwing stance. (Kinda) She is so cute about throwing balls. She will put her little leg out as far as she can and then chuck the ball!

I took a video of her but for some reason our computer won't play the video with Windows Media, so we have to take another look and figure that out.

But about Aaron he has been doing so much better the last 3 days. He has been getting good naps and actually cooing and talking. Saturday he got 2 naps a morning nap that was about an hour and then another afternoon nap. I am not sure how long that one was because we weren't here! Grandma came up and watched the kids so we could take advantage of some free movie tickets we had and have a date night! Woo Hoo!

It was a lot of fun, first we went to Target and got the kids Easter baskets and I got a new pair of jeans and 2 cute tops that were on clearance. (Oh and I also found out that the pair of jeans that were getting too tight for me were actually a size smaller than I remembered! Ha! Go figure!) Then we had dinner and went to see the Lincoln Lawyer. It was really good.

Grandma had a great time and Aaron was so good for her. She was able to put Grace down for bed without Aaron fussing and then she put him down to bed really easily as well!

I was so happy to hear that. We stopped feeding him rice cereal a few days ago, and he is off the antibiotics for his ear infection. He still has his hands in his mouth all the time and slobbers up a storm, but generally seems to be happier. He still is on his reflux meds. But we have seen a lot less temper and overall unhappiness and better sleeping. In fact the last 3 days he would wake at 5/6am for a morning feeding and then not wake up until about 9am. And he would wake up happy and cooing and looking at his Mobile or cooing on his tummy.

We do think that Aaron is a light sleeper and we know he hates loud noises. Grandma said she was holding him and she sneezed and it startled him awake. Daddy was reading an article about how babies sort of protect their sleep and how many times a noise can happen before it wakes the baby up. Some babies more and some less. I think that he tosses and turns and can easily wake up and be uncomfortable and then get upset.

However my sweet Grace, I am going to try to get her into the pediatrician's office tomorrow morning. She told Grandma 3 times on Saturday that her ear hurt. The thing is she doesn't act like she is in pain at all (in fact she had a blast tonight jumping on our bed while I stuffed Aaron's diapers!). Although she is more whiny lately and who knows if that is it or her just being 2 and whiny a lot. And she has had a snotty nose as well. So I will let you all know tomorrow.

Well that's enough for tonight, I got some more pictures to upload for later this week but its getting late here.

LOVE YOUS!

Ha Ha Well....

...Aaron actually did NOT sleep well last night. He woke up way more than usual. And today was the worst, absolutely worst day for naps.
I really don't know what his problem is, and it is so frustrating. Some times I think that he is in physical pain and then other times I think he is just stubborn stubborn and having a little temper tantrum. He seems to know when it is nap or bed time and fights like crazy. Like today Daddy was home and helping with naps and he had been screaming and crying. So Daddy went into get him. He picked him up, he was crying, he walked out of the office (Aaron's bedroom) he immediately stopped crying. He stepped back into the office, he immediately started crying again. He did that about 2 times with the same results. Then like last night I wonder if it's the rice cereal giving him gas.
Oh and he also can turn over on his tummy quite easily now and it seems like he prefers to sleep there. The only problem is, he will be asleep in my arms on his back or tilted a little on his side and I put him down in his crib. He will lay on his back for about 2 seconds before turning on his side, then onto his stomach then start crying and then start screaming. It's like he is an active sleeper and wants to lay on his stomach which is fine because he can do that on his own now, however when he gets there he is uncomfortable and can't be soothed unless I pick him back up.
Tonight I was reading about rice cereal causing gas, and since he is already on reflux meds I may stop the rice cereal. For sure tomorrow I will if he acts fussy again tonight, because he had cereal tonight again for the third time. It already took me about an hour to get him to sleep tonight and he maybe got an hour total nap time all day today. I may just skip the cereals and ask the pediatrician about when we can go to fruits and vegetables. I also wonder if he has been extra irritable because of all of the ear infection,reflux, maybe even teething, rice cereal, stubbornness combined all together! Oh my!
And with all of this Aaron drama I have forgot to mention that Grace has started getting interested in going potty. Several times now she has told us she has to go pee pee and we go potty on the big potty and she has gotten a piece of candy. We ask her, "Are you all done?" and she says, "More." and then she goes more!
We haven't done number 2 yet, and in fact tonight after I got her pj's on her, I commented that she tooted and then she made a strained face and I said, "You need to go poo poo on the potty?" She was of course but she acted all freaked out, so I didn't press it.
She will probably potty train soon because its Murphy's Law and I just bought a huge box of size 5 diapers at Costco because they had a coupon for them! lol
Well its getting late and so far Aaron is still asleep. I want to read my book for a little bit before hitting the rack, and we have friends coming over tomorrow morning.
Love to everyone!

Man cub can not live on breast milk alone....

I rearranged Grace's room today. I originally was going to take out the little side dresser that was in the corner, but I found that if I just moved things around it could stay there. Now she can have her little table in her room too! In fact she was the one that moved the table and chairs in here all by herself! Our little reading corner..

I put her play kitchen in her closet awhile ago and started hanging all her clothes because she loves playing in her drawers.

My boys hanging with...

...my sleepy head little girl while I vacuum with our new vacuum. We got a Dyson and are really pleased so far! Its the animal hair and allergen one and we also got a special dog grooming attachment that hasn't come yet so we will see how that works as well.

Daddy fed our little boy tonight and he ate it all up! He was loving his rice cereal and macking it down! At first Daddy was feeding him on his lap, but that wasn't working so daddy put him in his chair. He fussed at first but then got into the eating groove!

Yummy!

He went down super easy tonight! No back arching and mad crying, however... he has woken up twice so far and I was able to rock him back to sleep easily both times. Here is hoping that a few minutes ago was the last time! And maybe he has just needed to have a fuller belly to go to sleep on!

Target Deals

So here is my first picture (and maybe only ha!) of my deals I got today at Target. I got everything in front of the diapers. The rest is just my regular ole stuff I haven't put away..lol. Diapers, toothpaste, new socks for each child and 2 new razors! I got all of these things for about $16! Those 2 razors are about $10 each typically. Like I mentioned last night we gave Aaron some rice cereal with breast milk to try. He loved it and did pretty good at eating it as well.

Of course he kept making faces like I was killing him! Lol!

Can you see his blond fuzzy hair?? I LOVE IT! It never occurred to me that it could be so blond, probably because Grace has more of a darker blond/brown hair.

Aaron is proving to be such a difficult stubborn little boy when it comes to going down for naps and to bed. Once he is asleep for the night he does good, but getting there is another thing! Tonight he went down easily for him, and slept for about 25 minutes and then the game was on and he was awake screaming with daddy for awhile. It took total about 1 1/2 hours to put him to sleep.

Although I do think he may be like his daddy and can't sleep when its too warm. I think he woke up from his nap early today because he got too hot. I had the space heater on in the room and although it felt nice and toasty to me, he seemed hot when I picked him up.

Last night he did his normal thing and got up once. Even with the rice cereal. It was about 3am that he woke up and he went to sleep about 730pm. A good long stretch, but he has done that occasionally even with just breastfeeding.

He has no sleep routine, much to my dismay. I wish he would get a routine even if it was something I didn't like, because then I would know what it was. *Sigh* Maybe at 6 months we will get one! :P

Ok well I got to get off the computer and take a bath. I did manage to work out a little bit before he woke up this afternoon and now my legs want a hot soak!

2 Babies!

Grace loves playing 2 babies. When I get up in the morning and I get Aaron first, Grace always wants to have Aaron snuggle with her and so she will point to her crib and say, "Two Babies!"

She loves to snuggle him an hug him. The only problem is he loves to grab stuff now and will grab her hair. She doesn't understand quite yet that he doesn't know that he is hurting her. Poor thing, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to love on "A"!

Smiley babies!

I intended to post these pictures on St. Patrick Day, but we have been so busy.

Aaron has turned into a fussy, I need mommy, hard to put down baby. He started getting fussy when Daddy was out of town 2 weeks ago. I took him to the pediatrician last Monday and he said his ears were kind of red, not super red but not good either. I had also tried to wean him off the reflux meds because he seemed to be doing better and we were at the end of the bottle. However, I filled the prescription on Thursday and we are starting again. He will be done with his antibiotics for his ears on Wednesday, and he seems to be feeling better the last 2 days. We have been so busy last week that I am looking forward to a more quiet week.

Last week we had small group, then play group, then I went to the Women's Conference on Saturday followed by a birthday celebration down at my MIL's house Saturday night. Then Sunday we had church and then a birthday party for 2 boys in my play group. We have been busy and I am sure there is something I am forgetting too! Ha!

Today Aaron got up at 730am and we had a good morning and then he took an hour and half nap. (Which is good because lately we maybe get 20-30 minute morning naps). We hit Costco and then back home for lunch. I put Grace down for her nap and then tried to put Aaron down for his afternoon nap (which normally goes good but not today). Today I spent 3 hours trying to put him down and he finally took an hour nap at 3:30 and then Grace woke up. :) Nice. I was going to work out, because I didn't work out once last week aside from our hike at the dog park.

So I nursed him after I put Grace down today and then tried to put him down right after but he just fought it. So I am thinking that tomorrow I will maybe wait a little bit longer but not quite as long as I did. I think he gets overtired easily and that's when he fights and gets so mad when going to sleep. He totally knows when it's bedtime. He knows the routine we have been doing and does not like it. Tonight I didn't wait and at the first sign I put him down to bed and it was a lot easier tonight. (Still not easy, and I had to walk the halls with him, but it didn't take as long)

Tonight we also tried rice cereal for the first time and I will post pics of that tomorrow. And we will see how long he sleeps. Right now its time for me to pump!

Our Day at the Dog Park

On this particular gorgeous Sunday it was about 60 degrees and sunny. It felt like spring is just around the corner and I think we caught a glimpse of it on this day. Here is my jogging stroller I got. It had a flat and we pumped the tire up already, but I think it has a slow leak, because it was totally gone when I went to put it in the truck. But we filled it up and it was fine for the trip. Here is Daddy's sweet helper, she climbed in there all by herself. (Can you see her little rugged sandals I got her) I love them, they are a bit more on the boy side, but not too much so. And then Aaron can where them to. (I bought these brand new at Kohls on sale)

So big! She now climbs into the truck all by herself. I usually open the door for her and tell her to get in while I put Aaron in. Then I come around and buckle her.

Just goofin while we load the dogs and such.

And...not looking at me and smiling, for sure.

Finally a glimpse of those baby blues...

At the dog park loading the little boy in the stroller. Isn't he cute with his little hat?

Immediately, Grace started finding a collection of sticks and rocks. We brought her hat, but because I stuck her hair back in a pony tail and because she didn't want to wear it, it got left in the stroller.

Grace and Daddy pondering the rocks.

Every picture that I got with her actually looking at me was golden because we couldn't tear her away from scouring the ground for rocks and sticks. I had to give her a poop bag to put her collection in because she would get handfuls and then give them to us. I told her you can only put the rocks in the bag.

Putting the rocks away.

Look mom at all my rocks!!!! (I love how the dog behind her is a white blur! At the moment it happened though I was inhaling sharply because I thought he was going to knock her down.)

Daddy was trying so hard to get Grace to actually throw her rocks into the water for the dogs, but she kept telling him, "No! My turn!" She says, My turn when she means 'Mine'.

Daddy will throw rocks in the water and Kayla will go after them and she thinks its great fun, so we totally thought Grace would want to throw her rocks for Kayla. She did throw a few, but I am not sure if they were her rocks or not.

Looking for the perfect skipping rock.

Daddy lends a helping hand.

Finally we were done at the dog park and had to leash up the dogs. Aaron had woken up but Grace was hard pressed to give anyone but her rocks her attention.

She did finally show me her rocks.

We had a great time at the dog park and got some exercise for us and the dogs. We missed naps though and it was a crazy day with the time change to miss them. Yesterday we had our small group and then tonight we had a birthday party to go to out in Tooele, which is kind of far west about 45 minutes, so our evenings have been off. Not to mention I took Aaron to the Dr yesterday to see if he has an ear infection and he does. So he is on antibiotics and the poor kid is off his game. Hopefully tomorrow will be more of a normal day and the kids can get to bed on time.

But Grace did have so much fun at her cousin's birthday party tonight. And she was so well behaved. She is usually always well behaved. Sometimes I think she is 2 going on 15 or something. Because she will look at other kids when they are acting up, like, "Really?"

I also got Grace a toy for Christmas that was price cut at Target $5 off. Its a little lap top, I forget the brand. But its for ages 3-6 so hopefully it will be something she likes and uses and it was only $15!

Lets see tomorrow is playgroup and I got to do my grocery shopping as well.

Good Night!