Picture Wednesday and some thoughts.

Guess who has a new teensy bottom tooth?  

 This guy!  Sweet Finny is 31 weeks old and just as darling as ever.  He's started to get a little more needy.  If he's on the ground and he doesn't see you, no problem.  But if he sees you walk by and you don't pick him up...problem.  We've taken to eating dinner with Finn sitting on my lap so he won't feel left out (read: so there won't be screaming).

This week I've been thinking a lot about the movie theatre shooting.  A lot.  I don't personally know anyone who was affected, but it was pretty scary having something so horrible happen in my new home city.  Just minutes away.  As soon as I found out what happened I wanted to know everything I could.  I was watching the news, checking online, trying to figure out how many people were hurt, who this guy was, what he'd told police, who the victims were...  As if knowing all the facts could somehow make me wiser and therefore immune to being directly affected by anything so horrible.  I just ache for the families.  For the innocence lost, for the sense of total safety and peace they may never feel again.  Friday night we knelt down for prayer and the first thing Glenn asked for was that the family of the shooter be comforted.   I thought, "Seriously?  You're that good of a person?"  Yep, folks.  He is.  I cannot imagine what they are going through either.  Knowing that the monster who did something so terrible was once your baby boy.

Then on Sunday (after Glenn gave an amazing talk, by the way), our bishop got up and gave us some counsel.  Counsel that is sort of common sense, but still needed to be said, and heard.  He said that reliving the horrible things that happened by dwelling on it or listening while it is repeated over and over on the news doesn't do any good.  He recommended that we turn off the news regarding this event, stop searching it out, and spend time doing positive things with our families.  He asked us to see the shooting as a senseless and isolated event and to not allow it to affect our day to day lives.  

It's hard when things like this happen.  It would be so easy to stop doing things because something bad could possibly happen to me or my family.  I felt like our bishop was talking to me.  Making sure I didn't dwell on this tragedy.  Didn't let it affect the way I live my life or take care of my family.  I am trying to do that.  I do feel extra grateful that our little family has been so happy.  So safe and healthy and sheltered from the horrible things that happen in the world.  I'll just keep squeezing these little guys every day, and express my immense gratitude that I get to have them (and their ridiculously handsome daddy), and that we're all safe and happy.

Picture Wednesday, Swimming Lessons, and a Scooter

Here's little Finn at 30 weeks old.

 Don't mind his tongue sticking out.  It's always sticking out.  It's like there's not enough room in his mouth to keep it inside, but seriously, check out those cheeks.  There's plenty of room in there.

Finn is a delight, as always.  It's been a busy week and poor Finn is often made to miss his morning nap or gets grabbed before he's done napping so we can go to swimming lessons or story time or to get the oil changed or so mom can get a jog in instead of just doing a workout video once in a while.  It's hard with 2 kiddos and lots of naps to fit into our day.  We either stay home all day or one or both of them misses a nap if we go out.  I feel bad for poor Finn.  He can't sleep when we're out and about.  There's way too much to see.  Lucky for us, he's such a sweet baby.  Even when he hasn't napped all day he rarely throws a fit.  He's a darling.

This morning Tate had his last swimming lesson of the summer.  This was the first time I've signed Tate up for lessons or sports of any kind and it was interesting to watch him figure it out.  A new authority figure, a new structure, new kids to talk to.  He was in a swimming pool but he wasn't supposed to play with toys or just wander around chatting to himself.  He was supposed to listen, obey, and stay by the class.  It took some getting used to.

I signed him up for 2 sessions this summer at the pool just around the corner from our house.  By the end I think he got it.  He was a good sport about trying new things.  He did better listening to his teacher.  His coordination greatly improved and he was able to do a few things being asked of him at the same time.  It was really exciting to watch.  His teacher was named Kylie but he called her Miss K.  She was great with the kids and had a soft spot for Tate, always listening to him as he chatted to her about his weekend, movies he likes, toys he played with, how he's going to get a sticker if he's good during his lesson, anything and everything.

Practicing his back float.

And a little ring around the rosie.

I was a wee bit nostalgic about the whole thing.  The first lesson especially.  So, maybe I'm over-emotional about everything...maybe there's no maybe about it...but there was something big to me about turning over my boy to someone else for the first time...well, except for nursery, I suppose.  Someone else was in charge of keeping him in line and teaching him things.  I'm excited for him to be able to learn things that I can't teach him all through his life.  He'll go to school and take classes and lessons and play sports and try anything he wants.  There was just something a little sad to me that first day of lessons.  It was more evidence that my little boy is growing up and outgrowing his total reliance on me a little bit more.  This parenting business is always bittersweet.

 Aaaand speaking of independence, Finn just became a scooter.  Just now.  As I've been typing this post he figured out for the first time how to scootch across the room and I had to grab my camera and film it.  Oh shoot.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chip and Dale

We recently bought a DVD set of Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers at Costco and let Tate watch an episode once in a while.  Mostly, it's nostalgic for Glenn and I because these were our morning cartoons when we were little.  He has the theme song memorized and we catch him singing it to himself all the time.  He was singing it from his bed this morning before I got him up and I had to grab the camera to try to catch it.   It's pretty quiet so you'll have to turn it up to hear him.  Sweet silly boy.

Picture Wednesday and the Children's Museum

Picture Wednesday.  Finny face at 29 weeks old.

Finn is a little mover lately.  He's dangerously close to crawling and I don't especially like that.  He rolls around and scoots himself in circles on his tummy trying to get to whatever toy or brother might be just out of reach.  He's just starting to pull his knees up underneath him.  I sort of want to pinch him or something when he does that so he'll stop wanting to move and crawl and grow up...bad parenting?  He's officially done being swaddled up for naps and night time.  He's been wriggling out of it for a while but today I put him down and just covered him with his blanket and he just conked out.  He looked so big lying there all big kid like. 

I'm feeling completely 100% better, by the way.  It was a rough few days, but by Sunday night I was feeling better.  I'm glad that's over with and hope I don't have to deal with it again.  What a mess.

A couple of week ago we went to the children's museum down town with the Cluff ladies.  Their daddy was working late, and Glenn was out of town so we made a full night of it.  We found an incredible deal on tickets.  They closed the museum down for the event and only those who bought this deal could get in.  The museum was not terribly busy, the tickets for the event were half price and included pizza, cake, face painting and other fun perks.  We were stoked and took full advantage of it.  We got there right as it started and left when the museum closed.  Three and a half hours of playing and the kids were very happy the whole time.  I got to chat with Janelle for hours, watch our happy kids run around, and didn't have to make dinner.  Have I adequately expressed how happy I was about our evening out?  Good.

The first floor is a fire station exhibit with a real fire truck to climb on.  Pretty cool.

Upstairs Tate loves the rocket exhibit.  Kids who are interested in coloring and crafting make their own rockets using supplies and then decorate them before launching them at the little launch pads.  Tate is happy to scavenge the side of the rocket launch booth for others' discarded rockets.

He  LOVES this part.  You push one button to charge the launcher and the other button shoots the rocket in the air.  He could do this over and over for hours.

Since it's summer time the museum set up a new water exhibit outside demonstrating different things water can do.  This was Tate's favorite part.  You get balls from one part of the exhibit, throw them in this bucket, and watch them swirl down the vortex and get flushed out the bottom.

Here are the kiddos (Tori, Tate, and Lizzy), soaked after playing in the water exhibit for almost an hour.

The bubble room is another favorite of Tate's.  He wears the purple lab coat and goggles so he doesn't get his clothes dirty and bubbles in his eyes.  It's funny.  There are tons of different ways to make and play with bubbles.  He loves standing underneath this bubble machine that is on the ceiling.  It makes big bubbles filled with fog.  When they get big enough, they drop.

And all the kids anxiously waiting underneath get to chase them down and pop them.

Here are Tate and Lizzy inside the square bubble.  You stand inside, pull on the rope, and the sides come up so you're trapped inside a giant bubble room.  Tate likes to kick and pop the bubble walls.  Very cool.

And here's what Finn did most of the evening.  I love the children's museum.  It is so fun to watch the kids get so excited and never get bored because there is so much to do.  We didn't make it to everything but we sure played hard.

Thanks Cluff ladies for joining us for a super fun play date.   We had a blast!

Picture Wednesday and a Memorable 4th

Here's picture Wednesday, just a tad bit late this week.  Baby Finn at 28 weeks old.  

 It's been a crazy week.  Tate has been much better overall.  Glenn stayed home last Friday (he only has to work a half day on Fridays anyway) and having the long weekend with Daddy home seemed to make all the difference.  Glenn's been really busy at work, traveling a lot, and busy with a lot of lacrosse obligations for the last few months and it's possible that was part of Tate's issue.  He missed his daddy.  At least, having Glenn home for a few days straight really seemed to help.  By Monday when Glenn went back to work he was behaving much better and seemed to have his freak-outs and anxiety under control.  It was a complete turn around from the week before.  Wednesday was pretty rough for Tate and he had some total melt downs again, but that's probably due to the craziness of that day.  He's been fine since.  I hope that he's feeling better for good.  It was so hard to watch him be completely out of control about every single decision or transition in his day.  And it was hard for me to be patient all day long.  I was on the verge of calling a child psychologist for some tips but he really is a different boy now.  Hopefully he just needed some daddy time...and he's had plenty of that this week as well.

So...the fourth.  It started out great.  We went to a ward breakfast and then went straight down town to meet the Cluffs at the aquarium.  We had planned to hang out there for a couple hours and then find somewhere fun to have a picnic lunch.  Then we were planning to go home, put the boys down for a nap, and have the Garvins and the missionaries over for a BBQ dinner.  Well, it didn't go exactly as planned.

The boys were so happy to be out.  They both love the aquarium.

Hanging out with the Cluff ladies is always a treat.  Tate talks about them every time we go somewhere.  "Can Tori and Lizzy come to my swimming lessons?"  "Can Tori and Lizzy come with us to the library?"  He loves those girls and they play really well together which is a huge perk because we really like their parents!  Here they are looking at the otters doing flips in their tank.

 And sometimes when a monkey sees something to climb, he just has to climb it.  (We've been reading a lot of curious george lately.)

 Looking at some sea horses.

I'm so glad the Cluffs moved out here.  They were our best friends in Austin and we've missed them a lot.  We've been able to get together just a few times since they've been out here, and I'm sure it will happen many more times.  They're just wonderful.

I'd been having an odd ache in my side all morning and as we walked around the aquarium it got worse and worse.  I was trying to think of a way to politely bow out of the picnic to go home and get some meds.  And then I took Tate on this little 4D ride they had at the aquarium.  He enjoyed it.  I did not enjoy it so much.  The pain kept getting worse and worse and by the time we got off I had to run to the bushes to throw up and then curl up on the sidewalk.  Glenn ran to grab the car and the Cluffs followed us to the hospital.  I've had two babies but I've never felt pain like that before and I hope I never do again.  It was so horrible.  We made it to the ER and after what felt like years, they gave me something for the pain.  They had to give me three shots of pain meds before it started to feel better at all.  So awful.  It was not the nicest hospital but most of the folks were really nice.  I had a CT scan which confirmed that I have a kidney stone.  And after several hours they sent me home with a pain medicine prescription.  Basically there's nothing you can do but wait and stay on meds to help with the pain.  I thought, "no big deal.  If the pain's under control I can totally handle this."

We were very lucky and blessed in several ways that day.  It was a huge blessing to be with the Cluffs when it got bad.  They were incredibly helpful.  That's one thing I love the most about their family.  They'll help you in any way they can and never make you feel like it's a burden to them at all.  They came to the hospital, took our boys home in our car, fed them, put them down for naps, and basically took great care of them while I was writhing in pain in the hospital.  Then after a few hours Aunt Nancy and Uncle Steve came over to take over for them so they could bring our car back to the hospital and head back to their house on the other side of the city.  So much help.  I'm so glad we have such great friends and family here.  That could have been much harder for us and the kids without their help.

Needless to say, we had to cancel our dinner which was a bummer.  The Garvins stayed at our house for a while and ordered out dinner for them and Glenn and it was nice to have them to talk to for a couple hours.

It was a very eventful day.  I had no idea something so teensy could cause so much pain.  It was incredible.  Another blessing is that Glenn has used very little vacation time so far this year and he was able to stay home the last couple of days to take care of the boys and I.  I'm able to keep the pain under control which is great, but the pain meds make me insanely nauseous.  I haven't been able to keep down anything since Wednesday morning.  It's no fun.  Today I think I've finally figured out which anti-nausea meds to take and how to time it just right so they're working before I take my pain meds.  It's been a mess.  I don't understand how anyone could like to be on pain meds.  Maybe they get something out of it that I don't, because I feel gross.  I feel dizzy, really nauseous, shaky and tired.  It's yucky.  At least I'm not in pain, but I'm so grateful that Glenn's been around to help with the boys because just carrying Finn up the stairs makes me a little nervous because I'm so out of it.  He's been super dad the past few days.  He took both boys to a movie, to swimming lessons, and swimming another time, he's bowling with Tate right now.  I can't imagine how hard this would have been if Glenn were out of town when this happened.

Kidney stones.  Who knew that something so small could cause so much trouble.  I hope this is the last time I ever have to deal with this mess.  I'm oddly sensitive and embarrassed about it.  Maybe it's the area of my body involved, maybe it's that I have to pee something out in order for it to be over.  I dunno, but it's embarrassing to me.  People I barely know who found out about it from Glenn's facebook page asking me, "So, have you passed it yet?"  I feel awkward about it.

While this fourth of July was a memorable one, I think I'd be happy if it was just a once in a lifetime thing. Hopefully it will be over soon.

Brothers

Finn thinks Tate is just about the coolest kid on the planet.  He has always loved his big brother.  Always looked around for him when he heard his voice.  And now that Finn's more mobile he scoots, rolls, and arches his back to keep Tate in sight when he's near.  He thinks Tate is so stinkin' hilarious.  Tate just makes noises, a few different noises in particular, and Finn can't keep from busting up.  I love it.  If Glenn or I make the same noises, it's not funny.  But Tate, he's the favorite, and that's fine by me.  

Tate's quite proud of it.  He's always saying, "Mom, I made Finn smile!"  or "I made Finn laugh!  That means that he loves me!" Tate is doing surprisingly well with Finn too.  He's either too busy to remember he's around at all, or he's smothering him with hugs and kisses and so excited that Finn is happy to see him.  So far this brother thing is turning out really well.  We'll see if it keeps up when Finn starts crawling and wanting to share/suck on Tate's toys.