Update on Us

Mr. N

This poor guy never gets a break! I'm working with him to get a post up about some of the fun things...and not so fun things...he went through with commuting to NYC every day and attending art school. There are some fun stories, but he's always soooo busy that we never get to that stuff. He finished school last Friday (hooray!!!!!!) and looked for jobs on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday to this Sunday he has guard, which is good for the money, but not so fun for him. They're doing war games in preparation for a huge inspection this year. Last time they did that he came home with two huge blisters on his head from his helmet.

Also, Mr. N has been in serious need of some new shoes. His were falling apart. Yesterday I went to the Thrift Store on base to check around and I found some Merrell shoes for $1.00! They had hardly been used and were half a size bigger than he normally wears, but I bought them and prayed that they would fit him. They did!!! What a tithing blessing. We couldn't afford shoes for him, but Heavenly Father provided a way.

Mrs. S

I'm fine. Tired, but life is normal. I miss nursing (see Baby L's update below). Our Polish neighbor is going to Poland for a month, and after that she's moving to NYC. I'm sad about that because she watches her grandson (he's 6 months younger than M) so they play together all the time. The grandson will be going to daycare. M is really going to miss playing with her friend. I also have a couple nursing covers I just made that I want to give away (as long as you pay for shipping). They are like the hooter hider brand, and they are brand new. The fabric is a cow print on one and the other has fabric that says "moo" over and over. I thought the fabric was funny because as a nursing mother I frequently have felt like a milk cow. Apparently others don't feel that way...so I'd like to get rid of the fabric so I can get a couple new prints. (by the way, did you know I make and sell these covers?) The catch is that if you ever know of anyone who needs a cover, could you put a word in for me??? Click here to see pictures of the fabric on my nursing cover blog. The pictures are on the November 2007 post. Comment if you're interested.

Also, Mr. N has me all wistful about the future. He asked me how I would feel about living on a Homestead (that's what he called it...but I'd never heard it referred to that way). I would say a small farm. We like the idea of having a moderately sized house (4-ish bedrooms) and a nice amount of land that we can have chickens, a nice sized garden, rabbits and maybe a milk cow. I love the idea. I'd like to have a couple horses eventually too. Not until we could really afford it though. I rode horses for 8 or so years growing up and during the summers my sister and I would work on the farm Monday-Friday and earn free lessons. We also watched the horses a few times when our instructor went out of town. They are a ton of work. This whole lifestyle we're looking at would be a lot of work, but also very satisfying. Our children would have to be very active participants in helping, which would be good for them. We really love the idea. I recommended moving to Beaver, UT. I was a missionary there and loved the area. Mr. N thinks that is a great idea, but really this is all so far in the future.... It just sounds really nice.

Little M

She has started calling my mom Mema. I hate that name. It just sounds like a back country hillbilly. No offence intended. I don't think she's even ever heard that name before. She just started calling my mom that out of the blue. I hope this is just a phase.

As for a random M fact: M also LOVES these animals. She has baby dolls, which she liked when she was younger, but that all took a back seat last November when she discovered these animals. They are all she plays with. She plays with them, bathes with them, and sleeps with them. Even her giraffe that has owies (the dog chewed his legs off...I'd say that's a pretty big owie!). We were at Target this morning and M played with the animals at the store there for about 15 minutes. She was heartbroken when we had to leave. Even though she has all these at home, it doesn't stop her from wanting more. Her favorites by far are the elephants. I'm actually considering dressing her up as an elephant for Halloween (and maybe L can be a tiger...). I could also make her a Safari girl and she could bring all her animals (L included...she could be an animal). I'll have to think about it.

Little M has also taken an interest in sleeping with L in her crib, which is not good because I don't feel I can trust her to not unintentionally harm her. They just play in her crib, and frequently L ends up in tears over some accident. We are constantly getting after her for going in her crib, and she understands she shouldn't, but she won't stay out! It's driving us nuts. I want to just let them sleep together, but I'm afraid M will hurt L by accident. Maybe they need to get use to sleeping together. L likes having M in there with her, but she gets really frustrated after a while because she wants to sleep and Little M keeps pulling on her and playing with her. Any advice???????????

Baby L

She is officially weaned. My attempt to teach her not to bite me while nursing backfired. After that she would jet every time I tried to nurse her. I didn't mean to traumatize her, but apparently I did. She stopped nursing and never looked back. I didn't anticipate that I wasn't really ready to be done nursing her. I feel very sad about it, but oh well. After 3 years my body is mine again. That's a good thing, I guess. I'm not as thrilled as I thought I'd be about it. When I was at BYU I did some research into the emotional effects of Breast Feeding for a child development class. I was surprised that the findings indicated that it created more of an emotional attachment for the mother to the child than the child to the mother. (this is strictly about the emotional benefits, not nutritional). Children that were bottle fed were not any different than breast fed babies in terms of emotional attachment. Good news for adoption and those who don't choose to nurse! You're kids aren't scarred. Anyways, that was a major side note. Baby L is weaned. She has her two bottom teeth and her top ones will probably be in within a week. Her poor gums are huge and she is so crabby. She can take steps here and there between things (like if she's walking along the furniture), but she's not walking yet. I'm not going to move her up to 18 month clothes until she's walking. Her 12 month clothes are trashed from all the crawling on dirty surfaces (outside) and I'd like to contain the demolition to one set of clothes.

Speaking of which, I love these aprons! There's a special place in heaven for my mother-in-law for making these! I use them every day for the girls. I usually end up hand washing them if they get too gunky...the girls like messy food. These aprons have saved their clothes!