2/3 of the way there

Taken just shy of 27 weeks.

As of this coming Thursday, I will be 3 months from my due date, so I guess that makes me almost 2/3 of the way there, right? The past 7 weeks I have been unbelievably easier than the first 20--I don't even have the words to describe the difference. While I never quite feel like myself when I'm pregnant (does anyone, really?), I may as well be a rock star compared to how I was doing a couple of months ago. I am counting my blessings and trying to curb the complaints.

We are really looking forward to adding to our family. When the baby comes, we will have 3 kids ages 3 and under. Crazy? Sure. But I bet there will never be a dull moment, and I definitely won't have time to be bored.

Am I ready?

Nope.

Would I change anything about my current situation?

Not a chance.

Bring it on.

No Place Like Home

This year was our first Christmas away from family (apart from our respective missions). Although it was much more low-key than our Christmases in Utah, we really enjoyed it. We feel so blessed to have so many great friends in Iowa and we loved spending the holidays with them. While there's no place like home for Christmas, Iowa comes pretty close. We spent Christmas Eve at the Taylor home along with the Frost family. The kids put on a nativity program. Maddie was the angel.

Cumorah played the part of Mary and her baby brother was Jesus. Isaac was Joesph and the Frost kids were shepherds.

Isaac kept his costume on for about 3 minutes-just long enough for Ryan to read from Luke 2.

I know I'm biased, but she made a darling little angel--wings, halo, and all.

Isaac spent a good chunk of Christmas morning playing with his new train and track. I spent a good chunk of the morning keeping Maddie from destroying said track.

She was pretty excited about her Dora doll and stroller.

We were also able to have Christmas brunch at the Somers' house and Christmas dinner at the Pluids'. It was a great day.

Here is a clip of Maddie opening her Dora doll.

Isaac opening his matchbox cars. The trailer wasn't as big of a hit as we hoped. He immediately re-gifted it to Maddie.

When Joseph went to Bethlehem

As I mentioned in a previous post, our Grandpa Reed wrote the music for the primary song, When Joesph went to Bethlehem. During this holiday season, and especially since Grandpa's passing, I have been working with Isaac on the words to his song in Spanish. Just this Christmas Eve morning he was able to call his Great Grandma Ruth and sing it to her. Here is a clip of Isaac singing Al Irse a Belen Jose.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Isaac's New Favorite Book

Here's a video clip for the grandparents of Isaac "reading" his new favorite book, David Goes to School.

He reads it so often that Maddie has even picked up on the phrases, except that the only words you can understand when she recites it are "No David!" and "Shhhhhhhhh!"

Maybe Next Year

In our 4 1/2 years of marriage, I have never been organized enough around Christmas to send out a Christmas card. Hats off to all of you who do it each year. Maybe next year I'll figure out how all of you do it. For now, this is as close as I could get.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Our Picky Eater Update

First of all, thanks so much to all of you who commented on my last post--I really appreciate your advice and I've been implementing it the past few days. Expect me to ask for advice on the blog more often, because it has really helped!

Here are a few things that I have tried that have been working:

• No snacks before dinner. This was an easy one to drop because my kids rarely tell me that they are hungry (they must get that trait from their father).
• No more sippy cups. Here's why: Maddie is old enough to drink from a toddler-sized cup, so it's time for her to learn. We've been doing this for about a week now and it has worked well. Plus, she is also old enough that she doesn't need to have milk at her every disposal. With no more sippy cups, the only place she is allowed to drink milk is at her high chair at meal time. Do we have spills? Sure, but not nearly what I thought we would. Plus, I don't have to accidentally find a sippy cup in the toy box that was left there three days ago--nasty. This has helped her to have more of an appetite at meals because she isn't grazing on her milk all day long. I do let them drink water from a water bottle whenever they want, and I try to take one with me when we are out and about. I promise I'm not trying to dehydrate my children. And I haven't thrown the sippy cups away--they will come in handy when we go on long trips in the car or over to a friend's house and I don't want to risk having spills there. Maddie's doctor actually recommended this one. I'm still trying to convince Ryan that this is the way to go.
• The past few nights, I haven't given her anything to drink at mealtime until after she eats. Our little girl was filling up on milk alone and therefore had no need to try anything new. A couple of nights ago, when I didn't offer her milk, she ate all of the cooked carrots in her meal, then she threw a little "I'm almost two" fit. After she was done with the drama, she picked up her spoon and ate 4 or 5 bites of her baked potato (which for her, is a lot), complete with chili, broccoli, cheese, and sour cream. That was a huge step for us. Last night we had homemade pizza. Again, I didn't offer her anything to drink until after she ate. She downed a big piece of pizza that had various veggies that she had either never tried, or hadn't eaten in months, including spinach, olives, mushrooms, yellow bell peppers, and tomatoes. I was thrilled. Isaac, on the other hand, picked off most of his toppings and ate 3 or 4 bites of the empty crust. Sigh. You can't win 'em all, huh?

I realize that we still have a long way to go before conquering her poor eating habits, but these few things have helped us have some success. Wish me luck that it keeps working!

Seeking Advice

Maddie's new favorite place to hide out is underneath the sink.

I have a dilemma and I hope some of you will be able to give me some words of wisdom on this issue. Maddie is really giving us a run for our money when it comes to eating (or not, as is the current case). I'm sure all you moms out there have heard your pediatricians say that it takes a child eating a food an average of 12 times before they can truly decide if they like it or not. I understand this and try to offer my kids different foods each day, even if they've tried something before and not enjoyed it. This has worked very well with Isaac, and as long as he's hungry (emphasis on he has to be hungry), he will eat most anything we put in front of him, or at least try it. Maddie, on the other hand, refuses to try ANYTHING new. ANYTHING! I even stumped her doctor the other day when I asked her what to do when she won't even try a food to find out if she likes it. Stubborn is her middle name right now, and the other night it took Ryan and I all the willpower we could muster not to shove the four cheese ravioli down her cute little throat, knowing full well that she would like it if she only gave it a try. Her doctor had no answer for me on how to get a strong-willed little girl to taste new foods (and frowned on the idea of me force-feeding her), so I don't know what to do either.

I have to say that I refuse to be a short-order cook---while I usually give them a couple of options for lunch, the kids get offered what we eat for dinner.

Take it or leave it.

The only exception to this rule is when we are having something that is not kid-friendly (i.e. I will not give Maddie a slab of steak or a bowl of green salad with raw carrots--we try to avoid choking hazards around here). I refuse to make a separate bowl of mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelly every time they don't want to eat what I make for dinner. I'm convinced that this fosters picky eaters who grow up not ever learning to try anything new. In the meantime, what do I do with little Maddie? She is currently surviving on various fruits (she'll eat just about any of those and downed a whole pomegranate almost completely by herself the other day), bread, cooked carrots, and a myriad of other toddler foods like peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, and quesadillas. If there isn't anything she likes on her plate, she won't eat. She would honestly rather go hungry than try something that might not agree with her palate. At dinner, she usually eats whatever fruit and grain that we have with the meal and then goes hungry.

Any advice out there from success you have had with your own children or things you might have read? Am I being too stubborn about the take it or leave it idea?

...Until Today

A couple of days ago, Ryan and I were laughing at this:

It's our new favorite show and we've been catching up on all the episodes online that aired before we started watching it. The episode we were watching was one where Lily, a newborn, gets locked in the car by her parents. Ryan leaned over to me and said, "We may have done a lot of stupid things as parents, but at least we've never done that."

Until today.

I had packed the kids up and we headed to the library to return the books that were soon due and get some new ones. I always drop the books that are due in the outside drop box so that I don't have to haul all the books in with the kids. As I stepped out of the car to drop the load of books into the book return, I thought to myself, "I should close the door--it's kind of cold outside..." As soon as I did it, I knew I had made a mistake. The door locked behind me.

Now, if you are a fan of Modern Family, you have seen Cam's reaction to locking Lily in the car. I can't say that I grabbed the nearest trash can and tried to hurl it at the car window, but I can empathize with feeling that way. I immediately panicked. "Isaac, can you unlatch your seat belt and unlock the door?" I pleaded.

He gave me a blank stare as if to say, "Seriously, Mom, don't you think I would have pulled that stunt months ago if I knew how?"

After thinking logically about the situation for a couple of moments and saying a quick prayer, I left the kids in the locked and running van and trucked up the icy path to the library. In my mind I kept telling myself, "Whatever you do, do NOT cry when you ask the librarian for help."

Ryan would have been proud of me--I didn't cry.

Everyone in the library was so helpful. They called the police who came as soon as they could. A locksmith came shortly after the police officer did---and 25 minutes and $42.40 later, the van was unlocked and we were on our way. Isaac didn't blink an eye at the whole ordeal and was fascinated with the locksmith's tools. Maddie, on the other hand, sobbed the entire time. It was a little more traumatic for her.

I'm so glad so many people were so helpful and that I didn't have to hurl any garbage cans or break any windows.

We'll Miss You, Grandpa!

Ryan's Grandpa Payne passed away early this morning. We all feel so blessed to have known such a wonderful man and he will be greatly missed. He was kind, generous, funny, loving, and accepting. Not to mention an amazing piano player. He wrote the music to one of the songs in our Church's Primary song book, When Joesph went to Bethlehem.

I was engaged to Ryan the first time that I met Grandpa Payne. I arranged to meet Ryan at their house on my way home from a trip to San Diego with some friends. Even though I inadvertently wore my U of U baseball cap and was teased for it, he still welcomed me with open arms into the family (he was stalwart BYU fan and professor of psychology there many years ago). I knew then I was gaining two special grandparents.

He and his wife, Ruth, have raised six great kids who are all generous, kind, and loving, just like he was. He left a great legacy behind. If we have another son, I want his middle name to be Reed, after his Great Grandpa. We love you, Grandpa!

Snow Day

A snow drift as high as Maddie is what we woke up to this morning.

We are staying in our pajamas today.

1 1/2

Maddie turned 18 months old yesterday--I can't believe my baby is so grown up! There are a lot of different words I could use to describe Maddie at this age. Here are a few of them:

happy*fearless*ticklish*funny*unstoppable*determined*loves books*loves Dora*loves Isaac*social*picky eater*stubborn as can be*crazy*friendly*loves to sing*kind*simpatica*thumb-sucker*great sleeper*attention lover*smiley*climber*walker (hooray! she started walking again on Sunday--with a cute little limp)*a joy.

Here is a video of Maddie dancing to her favorite soundtrack, Wicked. This was before her broken leg, but I'm sure she'll be dancing like this again by New Year's Eve. I should have edited it after the dancing stopped, but I just got too lazy, so the first 10 seconds are all you need to watch to see her jamming out.

People often ask me if Maddie is ready to be a big sister. Honestly, I really don't know. She loves babies and loves to be around other kids, especially her BFF, Lyssa, but time will tell if this princess is ready to share her throne with another little one. I know my fingers are crossed...