Guinea Pig Kid

I know her chin is cut off and part of her head is cut off, but I think I love this picture. She seems so grown up to me lately, she talks and acts and is treated like she is so much more than a an almost 5 year old. She is growing so fast. But when I look at this picture, I can still see traces of baby in her. It makes me smile and tear up at the same time.

Daily I question my mothering skills. Lately it seems I question them more than I used to. There are lots of days that seem to be defined by her pushing limits and me losing patience. I hope I'm doing right by her. She really is my guinea pig kid. I love her immensely, I hope that makes up for some of my shortcomings.

Mylie and Grandma's Excellent Adventure (and Mommy)

I know if I don't sit down soon and write this all out I will forget! Mylie, my mom and I just returned from a "most excellent adventure!" We drove to Iowa to visit my little sister Courtney who was about to have her first baby. We left Thursday, August 13th as Courtney was going to be induced on Friday morning. Mylie and I left Star at 6:15 a.m. to drive to Idaho Falls. We loaded up into Mom's car and drove until Ogallala, Nebraska. Yep, 1000 miles from Boise to Ogallala in one day. Mylie was awesome, really awesome in the car. She was content to listen to her headphones, color, read, and play dolls. We didn't even hook up the DVD player. Friday we drove about 700 more miles and arrived in Davenport. Courtney was still at the hospital, no baby yet. We stopped by the hospital and then I stayed in the waiting room and Mom and Mylie went to the hotel. Little Lila Kristine was born at 11:48 pm and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long. She is such a beautiful baby with lots of dark hair. She now shares the same birthday as Jeff.


On Saturday, since they were still in the hospital, we decided to drive to Nauvoo for the afternoon. It is about 2 hours away from where Court lives. Nauvoo is a church history site for the Mormon church and has the original buildings of the early members of the church who lived there in the 1830-1840s. It was so neat! We were only able to stay for a few hours, but it was so beautiful to see the Temple and to visit some of the sites. Earlier this year I read the "Work and the Glory" series and it was amazing to see all the places I had so recently read about. I was amazed, intrigued and brought to tears... mostly at the same time. Mylie learned how to make rope, bread and horseshoes, just like the pioneers did. On the way back we drove through Carthage and were able to see the Carthage Jail.

Sunday, we went across the Mississippi River to Moline, Illinois and had lunch and visited the John Deere Museum (and gift shop for Blake). I know I am from Idaho, but I am not a farmer ... Holy COW! I cannot believe the size of some of the farm equipment. So huge. Court and baby Lila were released from the hospital that afternoon so we spend the rest of the day ooohing and awwwing and loving on that baby.

And so went the rest of our week. Lila is so adorable and Courtney is doing such a great job. It is a neat thing to watch someone you love so much become a mom. Becoming a mom is such an amazing thing. I know that Courtney will do an amazing job. Lila is a lucky little girl. Bailey flew in on Thursday and it was fun to all be together for a few days.

Overall, Mylie did a good job while we were there. I tend to think of her as older than 4, and expect more from her than a 4 year old. I need to work on that. She had fun loving on her new cousin, playing in Courtney's front yard, playing with Uncle Jason, helping Mommy and Grandma cook, taking baths in the jacuzzi tub at the hotel, taking pictures of everything to show Daddy and Blake, and having an adventure!

Blake did great while we were gone. Jeff is the best ever. He really is. Alicia/daycare was on vacation the same week we were gone, so Jeff used a good chunk of his vacation and he and Blake lived the bachelor life. The 2 days he had to be at work, my friend Melissa kept Blake for the day. I was very hesitant to be away from Blake for so long, but knew he was safe and loved and had lots of fun while we were gone. We would talk to him on the phone everyday and then most days talk to him on Skype (video conferencing). In total we were gone for 11 days. That was a long time to be gone from my baby.

Our drive home was uneventful, we left Friday afternoon and got to Idaho Falls on Saturday evening. My Mom doesn't mess around when it comes to road trips. We made awesome time and she even let me drive for 45 minutes. With the trip there and our side trips, we probably drove around 3900 miles. Wow! I'm so glad our drive was uneventful, I so glad that we had safe travels, no car problems, no real problems at all. It was so neat to see so much country. I've heard lots of blah things about I-80, but I thought everything was beautiful. I had some observations on our way back:

*Iowa - so pretty! It is so green with rolling hills. It is strange to look out on the horizon and not see any mountains. The rain is CRAZY there. It would rain so hard and the streets would fill with rain. The thunder was so loud. Someone told me they had 6 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks. I don't think we get that much all summer in Boise!

*Nebraska - I have never seen so much corn in my life! It was amazing to think about how much corn is in all those cornfields and how they harvest it all. Also, windmills are amazing. We have windmills on farms in Idaho but they are far off the road. As you are driving along these massive (and I do mean massive) windmills are right by the freeway. I was a bit enamored with the windmills. We drove through Omaha at sunset on our way back and I was itching for my camera in the back. The sky was the most amazing orange/gold color and the city was perfectly silhouetted against the sky.

*Wyoming - vastness. That is the word that I thought of driving back through Wyoming. Western Wyoming and Eastern Wyoming look every different. Western Wyoming is green and mountainous and beautiful. I've spent time in Western Wyoming all my life. Eastern Wyoming (to me at least) wasn't the same kind of beautiful as the other side of the state. But it was so vast and gave me such a feeling of awe. Somewhere between Laramie and Rock Springs (I know that is a large area, but I can't quite remember where we were, I'll have to ask my mom), we both just felt like we were on the top of the world. There were plains and blue sky as far as you could see. It was truly breathtaking. You couldn't help but think about the pioneers, the mountain men, the trapper and traders as they passed through there.

I definitely have my parents' sense of adventure and travel. I love to see new places and to learn about the history there. I was a bit hesitant when my mom wanted to drive, but I am so glad we did. I am so glad that I got to see new things and travel in new states that I had not been to before. I am so glad that I got to spend all those days with my mom! It was so nice to just talk and talk and talk. Although we talk most everyday, it is different on the phone or email than sitting right next to each other or in the next bed over. I'm so glad that Mylie and I got to share this adventure. I was very nervous I wouldn't be able to go because Court was 8 days late and I had to be back for the beginning of the semester. It would have broken Mylie's heart as we have talked about going to Iowa for months and months.

And of course, I am SO glad that I got to love on baby Lila and Courtney. There is something about new babies, so fresh from Heaven. To see that sweet little thing, right after she was born was amazing. I'm pretty certain that the last person who hugged and kissed her was Grandma, before sending her here. I'm so excited to be an aunt again! Only two months until I get to see that sweet baby again! Let the countdown begin!

Bumblebee Soccer!

Mylie started U5-U6 soccer today. She has played in the tots league since she was 2. The tots league was a lot of fun. The kids had stations and then played a 10 minute game at the end. This is a big change as the play a 40 minute game against another team. They play 4 on 4 with no goalie. And they have practice.

Their team is the Bumblebees. Jeff is the assistant coach or as Mylie calls him, the "asentence" coach. They played a great game today and I think all the girls had a lot of fun. And seriously ... Mylie looks so cute! I wish I had a reason to wear black and pink addidas!

There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Mylie, Grandma and I had a WONDERFUL trip to Iowa. Spending the week with Courtney and Jason, and meeting and loving on my new niece, Lila was divine. Isn't she adorable?



Mylie and I both cried when we left. But 11 days away from Blakey is more than this Momma can handle. We walked in the door around noon today. Blake was in his high chair eating lunch. He kind of looked at me and was jabbering a bit. After almost a minute, it was like he realized who I was and he literally jumped out of his high chair into my arms and just put his chubby arms around my neck and held me so tight. I squeezed back as tight as I could and just cried.

He did seem a little confused in the afternoon, but by the end of the day every few minutes he would run over to me, put his little hand on my arm and say, "Momma." Oh how I love this boy.

He seems to have grown tremendously in 11 days. Part of it could be from the buzz cut Jeff gave him. The other could be that he is 4 times bigger than little Lila. Here is a little preview of his new do. I love it, it is so cute, but he looks so much older!!

Lots more to come about our Iowa trip. It will be an epic post (or two).

One more ...

I forgot, the highchair, he can almost climb out of the highchair. {Well he can probably climb all the way out of the highchair, I have just caught him before he got all the way out.}

However, last night he had a poopy diaper, went in his room climbed on the changing table and then yelled, "Momma! Momma! Momma!"

Just this week ...

Just this week Blake has learned to

• climb on the stool
• climb on the kitchen chairs
• climb on the kitchen table
• climb out of the port-a-crib at daycare
• climb onto his changing table

It's Tuesday. Sigh.

Blake at 18 months

Blakey is such a Momma's boy. He just gives me warm fuzzies! Jeff puts him to bed at night and always tells him "Go give Momma a kiss." Blake runs to me, climbs up on my lap and just put his arms around me, snuggles in and holds on tight. It is too cute. He loves to kiss and does the open-mouth kiss thing. He holds onto my cheeks and then kisses me. I have to be careful or he'll bite while he is at it.

He is chatterbox, though we usually have no clue what he is saying. His favorite word is Momma and he runs around the house saying it. Sometimes I think he uses that interchangeably for Mylie and I. He says Dadda sometimes. He says "dance dance" while is standing in place working it white boy style. Sometimes he will say dog. He says what sounds like "whats that" or "who's that" but it could very well just be babbling. He also says bye-bye and waves. He loves to go and if you tell him we are going to go, he runs and gets his shoes and then stands by the door.

He has a great comprehension of what we are saying to him and follows directions very well. He will give us things, get things, and sit in time out if told (haha). He is a great sleeper, he sleeps about 13 hours at night and then takes about a 2 hour afternoon nap. He loves his blanket (we call it big blue) and he still likes his paci at night and nap time.

He loves milk and he loves happy hour slushies from Sonic. He is an OK eater. You wouldn't guess by looking at his thighs, but he is kind of picky when it comes to food. I think he likes most things, just sometimes he is not interested in eating. He does enjoy throwing food. He gets into everything! He learned to climb up on the kitchen chairs this week and will set his books up on the table and sit and read. He loves to read. He has a book that Great-Grandma Breach gave him for his birthday that has flaps that open and loves to sit and read it and open all the flaps. We were reading it the other day and there were flowers in it and I said "oooh pretty" and he started smoothing his hair ... haha! He has tons of hair, and has already had a hair cut. Jeff and I had him in the chair and the clippers out to give him a summer buzz last weekend, but couldn't go through with it.

Mylie is his best pal in the whole world. He loves her so much. She usually goes in his room in the morning when she hears him wake up. I can hear them on the baby monitor from upstairs and it is so cute. He loves to sneak in her room and play in there. His favorite toys are the wooden spoons and spatulas. He loves to pretend clean (those things must skip a generation). He can be entertained for a long while with a wipe. He'll clean the walls, the floors, the chairs, anything with it. If the pantry isn't closed he'll sneak in and get the broom and if the laundry room is open he gets the mop.

We sure love this little dude and he has brought much happiness to our home. I think so far one of the best things about being a mom is watching the relationship between Mylie and Blake develop. That gives me warm fuzzies too!

These are a few of my favorite things!